April 13, 2004
Spring hawk watch 2004
Tlacotalpan Veracruz
Weather not condusive to raptor migration. Overcast, rain and windy with a high temp of 23C-74F. I spent two hours in the a.m. at the plaza.
Raptor total 8 (1 Osprey and 7 Turkey vultures)
Due to the weather I took a break from the hawk watch to go out into the field and do some birding/digiscoping (Digiscoping is where you combine a digital camera with a spotting scope to take pictures)
My "digiscoping outfit is pretty simple I use a Sony Mavica 250CD camera handheld to the eyepiece of my Nikon 80 spotting scope.
Here are some of the results of the digiscoping system:
I spent 3 and a half hours in the field and was able to observe 70 species. The highlight of the day was a view (I was unable to get a picture) of a Western tanager (male). In my six years of birding here in Tlacotalpan this is my first sighting of Western tanager.
Here are five of the species that I was able to digiscope today:
Roadside hawk buteo magnirostris griseocaudaview one view two view three
Vermilion flycatcher (Male)
Scissor-tailed flycatcher Tyrannus forficatus
Mangrove swallow (this little swallow was perched on a fencepost and the background is color of the house behind it)
The HIGH POINT of my digiscoping day was this TENNESSEE WARBLER (male) Vermivora peregrina
view one view two
Well, you get and idea of my birding excursion for the day. I was nice to take a little break from the hawk watch but I am anxious to see what tomorrow will bring, hopefully the weather will improve.
David McCauley
Tlacotalpan
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