"Crime Scene" Season is Upon Us

I am finding more exploded puffs of birds these days, on my walks and in the yard.  I jokingly call them "crime scenes",  which gets children to pay attention.  But what it tells me is that it is the time of year that the hawks are coming through.   

Here in the Hill Country of Texas we are at the edge of the spectacular hawk migration that funnels thousands of hawks from their northern summer haunts, along the coast, to end up in their Central and South American wintering sites.  I know there are places near Corpus Christi that are THE place for spotting this “river of raptors” on their way south.  Huge collections of hawks spiraling in the sky like that are called a “kettle of hawks” and I really must get more organized next fall and get down there to see it. 

We are north of Corpus Christi and inland enough that one still can count mostly on vultures filling the skies but I had a beautiful broad winged hawk perched in the tree out my window a few days ago. Close enough for a positive ID. 

 (that's an Audubon picture but that is how close it was)

 Plus, over the last few weeks I have been hearing, not the impresario blue jay convincing me it is a red tailed hawk, but the real thing.  A common sight in most of the country, they are a treat where we live, as are the few Merlins and Sharp Shinned hawks that have been through the yard lately. 

You can sense when they are about; everything goes still. “Nobody moves, nobody dies” is the motto of many a feeder bird.  However, a puff of white winged dove feathers on the lawn the next morning, lets me know this predator didn’t go hungry yesterday. 

I never can truly sense what month it is here in Texas.  Everyone is exalting the “cool front” that came through, lowering the temps to the 80’s but that still spells summer to me.  In the North though, many of the southward migrants would have left by now.  However, the most densely packed “crime scenes” I have ever seen in my life were found in a winter juniper forest on the Cape. Some 80,000 northern robins hailing from Canada decided to make our densely packed juniper forest their winter roosting spot.  

 To arrive at dusk would be to hear all the raptors claiming their part of this fast food forest.  Walking the trails there in the daylight the next day would show that not all 80,000 robins made it down for breakfast; a poof of feathers at every turn.  Still, one has to be happy for the top of the food chain when it is able to meet its nutritional requirements so it was more amazing than disturbing.  I doubt I will ever see anything like it again.

If you happen to live along this raptor flyway then I bet you too might be coming across these obvious piles of feathers, too many to be molted, that lets you know the raptors are passing by and one was lucky enough to procure a meal.  Scientists calculate these broad winged hawks may travel more than 4,000 miles to their winter destination.  By all means, lets not begrudge them a snack on the way!