Yesterday afternoon here in Tlacotalpan Veracruz in a three hour period, I was able to count 5,675 Broad-winged hawks. There had been a bit of a lull in the movement of Broad-winged hawks here at the count but today they made a good showing.






























In the morning yesterday I was able to "digiscope" this cool Yellow-headed Savannah Vulture (lesser)
The Savannah vulture is a resident here in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. In flight they resemble a Turkey vulture.

-David McCauley

On April 25, 2006 Twenty-three Peregrine falcons flew over the spring hawkwatch in Tlacotalpan Veracruz.













I love to watch Peregrine falcons! Perched or in flight this is one damn impressive raptor! In recent days they have been migrating through in fairly large numbers. We have observed and counted 65 Peregrine falcons in the last seven days. So far this spring we have counted 136 Peregrines.
On April 25, in the afternoon, this beautiful Peregrine falcon landed on a radio antenna (two blocks from the hawkwatch site) I left Rafael and José Luis counting, grabbed my scope and digital camera, and was able to get a few photos of this Peregrine falcon at rest.
Enjoy.
David McCauley
hawkwatch@gmail.com

(photo of a Roadside Hawk that I "digiscoped" yesterday in Veracruz)

Yesterday we passed the 200,000 mark for raptors counted at the spring hawkwatch here in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz. It has been an amazing spring. See HAWKCOUNT
We have logged 207 hours and seen 19 migratory raptor species. Really good stuff!
This year I have had more help scanning and counting and that has made all of the difference. Mississippi kites are still coming through in good numbers.
David McCauley

15,255 Mississippi kites and a Great Black Hawk









Yesterday I was out in the morning before the hawkwatch and was able to "digiscope" this beautiful adult Great black Hawk - Buteo urubitinga ridgwayi
Nikon Coolpix P1 handheld to Nikon Fieldscope 82 ED 30XWA eyepiece - Slik tripod























Once again the raptors here at spring hawkwatch in Tlacotalpan put on a magnificent showing. Today the Mississippi kites were in the spotlight. We counted 15,255 Mississippi kites in a 4 hour span. There were three large groups of 1,500 plus Mississippi kites.
The total count for the day was 16,351
The count for April so far is .......160,114 (133 hours of observation)
The total count this far for the Tlacotalpan Spring hawk watch is...190,832 (186 hours of observation)









































Me, on the porch of the house in front of Plaza Doña Marta, sitting in my favourite "hawkwatch rocking chair" Its a tough job...but somebody's got to do it..LOL
Having the time of my life and happy to share it with the world.
Eyes to the sky,
David McCauley
hawkwatch@gmail.com

Greetings from Veracruz - I was out early yesterday and was able to digiscope this adult Roadside hawk.
The winds persisted from the south and there was no apparent raptor movement. At 14:30 the winds shifted from the SSE and the floodgates opened!
For the next three hours the sky was filled with raptor migration! There were no massive groups of raptors, the largest "stream" was about 500 raptors (mississippi kites). Fairly low flight provide excellent views.
Below are some photos that I took through my binocular to give you a sense of what was happening. (click on all of the photos for the enlargement).
David McCauley
hawkwatch@gmail.com

It was quite an amazing day here at the hawkwatch in Tlacotalpan. The afternoon brought low flying mixes of Swainson's hawks and Broad-winged hawks.

I logged a little over 7.5 hours here yesterday in hawkwatch. I observed 16 species of birds of prey (including resident raptors) and counted 2,382 northward bound raptors.
The bulk of the days movement occurred between 3 and 5 pm.
The afternoon sun illuminates the low flying raptors as the gracefully swirl overhead. Broad-winged hawks, Swainson´s hawks, Missippi kites, Peregrine falcons, Osprey, Sharp-shinned hawks, Cooper´s hawks........hawkwatch bliss.
With two weeks of April counting done we have counted 97,093 migrating raptors and the total spring count including some days in March is 127,811.
HAWKCOUNT

Spring hawkwatch 2006 Tlacotalpan Veracruz. Here is a brief report of the Tlacotalpan Spring hawkwatch so far. With 149 hours of observation time we have counted 125,429 migrating raptors (18 migrating raptor species observed and 9 species of resident raptors for a total of 27 species of raptors observed.) I don´t know of any other hawkwatch site that can equal this type of raptor diversity.
This year I had more help with the hawkwatch observation and it is reflected in the numbers. I want to thank all those who have helped out so far this season.
I still have two weeks of observation left for the month of April. For a report of this and previous year´s counts here in Tlacotalpan Veracruz, you can visit the HAWKCOUNT site.
I have not made regular posts to my weblog as I have been very occupied with visitors, early morning birding / "digiscoping" and cooking.
For these last two weeks I plan to post on my weblog some of my hawkwatch observations and share with you a little of this marvelous hawkwatch experience.

My first day on the spring hawkwatch. March 2nd I was able to spend 3 hours on the hawkwatch. I have a new counting location this year about a half a block away from the house. I am on the rooftop of a 3 story building with a nice clear view. The added height will allow me to see things that I missed last year. I have still have to fix up a small area with some shade. Early next week I should have my new digiscoping equipment.
I am pretty excited to try it out.
As for my observations...I counted 15 Turkey vultures. As of March 20th I plan to put in 8 hours a day on the hawkwatck until April 30th.
I could use some counting help if anyone can come down. I also need a couple new clickers.
contact me hawkwatch@gmail.com
A couple of days ago I was able to get out and photograph a juvenile Snail kite






























































and a Northern Caracara gathering nesting material

Spring Hawkwatch 2006
Attention birders and hawkwatch enthusiasts I warmly invite you to make some plans for the spring bird of prey migration here in Tlacotalpan, Veracruz....... March 20th through April 8th I will be offering a birding/raptor migration tour here in Tlacotalpan Veracruz that will feature the spring raptor migration, general birding, some mexican cooking classes and an overall good time.
Last year during these dates I counted 74,629 raptors!
This year is going to be great! You can sit on my front porch in the afternoon and watch raptors fly overhead by the hundreds and thousands. It´s fantastic stuff!



I want people to come down this year.
The trips are flexible, decide the amount of days that you want to stay from March 20 through April 8th. The cost is $75.00 USD per day based on either single or double occupancy and includes;
1. early moring birding (6:30am til 9am) afternoons will be dedicated to the hawkwatch.
2. Basic accomodations (clean rooms with ceiling or floor fans) AC would be additional.
3. breakfast, lunch and dinner
4. if you so desire, you can pick up some tips on preparing some great mexican dishes.
5. purified drinking water
(not included, between meal snacks, alcoholic beverages )
If you want someone to meet you at the airport in Veracruz and accompany you to Tlacotalpan r/t add on $50.00 USD


You can contact me for more information David McCauley, my e-mail is hawkwatch@gmail.com


Good birding,
David

Roadside hawk, Buteo magnirostris griseocauda
I was able to take these photos yesterday in San José Papaloapan. They are not the sharpest as I took them with my digital camera placed against the eyepiece of my binocular, "binoscoping"
But you get the idea of this beautiful tropical buteo. The species is quite abundant here in the tropical lowlands of central Veracruz. A small buteo (13 to 16 inches), the tail is fairly long with even, broad bands, the adult has mottled brown vertical streaks on the throat where as the rusty colored breast and belly feathers present the form of horizontal banding. The eyes are a soft "straw" yellow. The most common call while perched is a fairly long drawn out complaining scream.....reeeeeaaw.....repeated.

My encounter with a Northern Jacana Jacana s. spinosa
I was headed out to the market, it had just rained alot. Steps from my front door (on the ground) I came upon this immature Northern Jacana. It was a tangle of wet feathers and legs...at first I thought that it was dead, but as I crouched closer and picked it up it moved. Very weak I took the bird into the house and gave it a superficial check, no broken wings, legs or neck.
It could not stand on its own, its eyes were open. I dried it off a bit, wrapped it gently in an old dry sock, that seemed to soothe the bird a bit.
I sent the neighbor kid out to the marsh to get some small minnows.
I was able to feed it about 15 small minnows.
After four hours in the house, I noted that it could stand on its own.
Taking advantage of the daylight, I took the Jacana to the edge of the marsh and released it in the shade some 2 meters from the edge of the marsh. I watched it for a while, it seemed to be alert and was taking a few steps.
I left it there with the hope that it would fit in to it´s new surroundings. Jacana young are precocial (able to move about and feed soon after hatching),
this individual I estimate to be 8 to 9 months old.
The mystery is how it got into town, in 8 years I have yet to see a Northern Jacana in flight over the town.
Good birding,
David McCauley
I was able get some closeup pics of this bird,
click on the thumbnail pics below to see the larger image.

100,000 plus Raptors and an Eastern Coral snake.
Oct.28, 2005
Below is visual that show the southward movement yesterday of raptors here in the river basin of the Papaloapan river in central Veracruz, Mexico.
There was massive movement with steady "lines" of raptors (primarily Turkey Vultures) from San Jeronimo to San José Paploapan. As I observed from the bus fromTlacotalpan enroute to San José I observed (conservatively 80,000 plus raptors in six (15 to 20 wide) "streams")
Absolutely Veracruz River of Raptors awesome!
In San José Papaloapan I observed 50,000 + raptors between 14:00 to 15:15
in addition to the TV´s, I spotted Swainson´s hawks, Cooper´s hawks, Sharp-shinned hawks, Am. Kestrels


I was able to get some pics of a juvenile Eastern Coral snake that was captured in the back yard of one of the neighboring houses in San José Paploapan.
The heavy rains this year have forced many snakes to head for higher ground which happens to be where most of the houses are built.
It was a bit of an adrenelain rush to photograph this marvelous venomous snake. Micrurus F. Fulvius.
Click on the image to see a larger version, note the faint yellow rings that are beginning to develop.
'If red touches yellow, it can kill a fellow' (coral snake)
'If red touches black, it is a friend of Jack' (scarlet kingsnake or scarlet snake)
Link showing the difference between Coral snakes and non-venomous "mimics"


















Click here for another view