Report from the “South Jetty” newspaper at the beginning of November report,  that winter is not too far because the snow geese have arrived in mass.  One can hear the loud and wild honking from high above before they circle around as if to get their bearings as to where they are and finally braking hard and circling before heading for a place to land  feed and rest.  Other migrants are also arriving,  the sandhill cranes which you can hear before seen.  Circling over north Port  Aransas  they bugle to announce their arrival,  then trumpeted before heading to San Joseph Island where they will rest and feed.   Fall migration has been slow this year probably there has not a real “cold front ” pass though Texas so far.  But some of the usual migrants are here.  Seen so far Wilson’s,  palm,  Nashville and a Tennessee warblers have been sited at the Leonabell Turnbull Birding Center along with a northern parula.  There was a “cool front” that passed through a couple weeks ago and several birds not seen in P.A. on a regular basis were the red-breasted nuthatch and brown creeper.  Others were the golden-crowned kinglets  and the Louisiana water thrush.  More ducks will arrive in great numbers with the sound of hundreds of pairs of beating at the L.T. birding center.  Enjoy bird watching and embrace nature.  Written by Jack Kidd

The Port Aransas South Jetty newspaper report that bird enthusiast there and in Corpus Christi, Texas, now that October is here, are reporting that the broad-winged hawks are streaming out after riding high on a tower of rising air. The thermal of warm air has taken them with it, they are sliding off the top, and riding the air southward as far as the can go. Sometime they will fly as high as 700 to 4,000ft. To do this they are pulling back their wings to give them the most efficient shape for gliding, which gives them the most speed over he most ground. They will slowly began to loose altitude, but basically on a free ride without expending very little energy as they travel. They will soon find another thermal and repeat the process and migrate as far south as they want. They are migrating south for the winter and unless they hit bad weather, they will travel this way until they reach their destination. Their speed reach 25-45 mph and travel 60-300 miles per day.
Written by Jack Kidd.

The Corpus Christi Hawk Watch in mid-August had a total raptor count of 12,546 hawks the majority were the graceful Mississippi kites. Others seen were Cooper’s hawk, which are considered resident birds in this area, but their numbers swell in the fall as large numbers of Cooper’s and sharp-shinned hawks migrate south for the winter. These hawks are in a group of raptors called accipiters, who have long tails and short rounded wings which makes them fast and maneuverable – designed to pursuit and capture of small birds. The smallest of North American falcons, the American kestrels were seen. They eat mostly large insects and mice. Some Swainson’s hawk were seen high overhead soaring with their long wings and are long distant travelers, as they make their way to the pampas of Argentina. The broad-winged hawk migration peaks during the last of September and as many as 100,000 were seen in a single day in the Corpus Christi hawk watch. all of these hawks use the daytime thermals to migrate: these mighty up-drafts are elevators to the favorable upper air streams that help their migration both north and south almost effortlessly.
Written by Jack Kidd


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To create mud flats 50-100 miles north of the Gulf of Mexico, federal and state wildlife managers are planning to flood land, in hopes that the migratory birds will stop short of the waters polluted by the BP oil disaster.
100 species numbering in the millions of seabirds, waterfowl, shorebirds, waders and rails rely on Gulf waters or shores for winter habitat. Including this group is the Blue wing-ed Teals the male being the earliest to arrive in fall migration, sometimes in mid-August. Their numbers are down 14% since 2009. The Common Loon which breeds in the mid-west, winters along the gulf in relatively shallow water-less that 150 ft- usually along the coast of Alabama and the Florida panhandle. Many are also seen in the Texas coastal waters. The Dunlin a Arctic nesting shorebird, winters along the Pacific, Atlantic and gulf shores. In recent years as many as 2,000 individuals were reported in November 2009 along the now heavily oiled Louisiana coast. The black-necked stilt, the long legged bird breeds and winters along the Louisiana and Texas gulf coasts, feeds and nests in the shallow marshes, some affected by the oil spill in Louisiana. The songbirds and hummingbirds that rest and increase their stanama along the coast before migrating south should not be affected by the oil spill. The Piping Plover, a coastal bird, 35% of the total breeding population winters along the Gulf coast from Florida to Texas, representing more than 50% of the endangered Great Lakes-Great Plains population.
Written by Jack Kidd.

After a long arduous spring time journey across the vast Gulf of Mexico, the migrants are ready for rest and nutrition. Many fail to make the journey and perish and are taken by the gulf waters. Those that succeed in the journey start eating and replenishing their fat storage and resting for their journey to the northern U.S. or Canada.The western winds brought some rare birds, including the varied bunting, which is see only northern Mexico and the Big Bend area of far west Texas. Then later , strong winds in the opposite direction brought in some eastern migrants. Included in this group were the Cape May, cerulean and prairie warbler. The many birders in P.A. were thrilled to see such a variety of migrants. The local and other birders will see these feathered friends again this fall when they come through for their southern wintering grounds.
Written by Jack Kidd