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Sunday, December 12, 2010

Field trip with Bill Clark

Sat. we're up and out early to join the Arroyo Colorado Audubon field trip with Bill Clark who has written the Peterson's field guide on Hawks. Bill has caught a female Harris hawk for us and he will measure and band the bird then let it go where he trapped it.Here is a photo of his trap, he will use mice or sparrows and the hawks legs will get caught in the loops on the top of the trap. The hawk is then slipped into his can, seen in the photos above, Bill can then band and measure the birds talons.
We then got in our cars and caravan out to sugar cane fields that have been burned and harvested to look for more hawks. The hawks especially white tailed hawks will be found at these sights enjoying crisped rodents and snakes. We saw several but it was not a good day to put out traps to band as the evening before was not really cold enough to make the hawks hungry enough to go to his traps. It was interesting to follow along and learn about the life of the hawks, turkey vulture and Crested Caracara's.

Thursday was a perfect day to go to the SPI and walk the boardwalk, and it turned out to be our lucky day we finally spotted the Purple Gallinule and got close up views of the Redhead duck and American Widgeon ducks.
We tried looking for the Rufous backed Robin again, but we didn't see it, it was spotted but we were seated in the wrong spot for us to see it. We'll try again.
Dicho Mexicano de la Semana:
Lo mas que aprendo--Lo mas me doy cuenta de lo que no se.
translation: The more I learn, the more I realize what I don't know.



1 comment:

Cherylsue said...

I see you all have nice weather in TX. It has been very cold here but no ice and little snow. We are having Christmas here. Mother didn't come for Thanksgiving and isn't coming for Christmas. Jeff, Pat and maybe Nicole and I are going up the 24th for lunch. I guess old age has finally caught up with her. She is OK but doesn't like to leave home overnight. Hope you all have a happy holiday season. Thanks for the nice card. Cheryl