So Many Hawks !
I shot this at Smith Point, TX last week. The widest angle lens I had was a 200 MM, so I could only get a small vignette of what the sky actually looked like.
This is a kettle of Broad-winged Hawks. The hawk counters counted 10,000 hawks in the sky at one time. This image shows just a small section of the group that was above me. It’s an insane experience to watch that many hawks lifting on the thermals and not bump into each othere.
Smith Point is a peninsula of land jutting into Galveston Bay. As the hawks migrate south to their wintering grounds, they follow the coastline and end up funneling down the peninsula and end at the point. Most hawks will not migrate over water so they gather at the point of this land and gain elevation before moving back up the peninsula to continue on.
If you happen to be there in peak migration and right after a northern front, the skies will be full of birds.
I also managed to get a few images of the Broad-winged Hawks as they came closer to me. A great day at the Point.
Unreal !! I’ve heard of these ‘ kettle’s before , but the nearest I’ve got to that, is the one that helps make the cup of tea at home
PS. I ordered your songbird set-up cd from Art’s website a few weeks ago.
Can’t wait to look through it.
Cheers mate
Nick
( former Brit, now in Saskatchewan, Canada )
I couldn’t agree more, thanks for writing.
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My husband and I were getting ready for a family get together this past Sat., April 17th, 2010, and he called me to come outside. Unfortunately I did not get to witness it, but he said the sky was full of hundreds of hawks. He said they hovered for a long time far above our home before moving on. He thought it was some kind of mating ritual. The area was New Caney, Texas, they must have been moving toward Galveston, Texas, thought you would like to know…thank you for the picture, at least I now got to see close to what my husband witnessed with his eyes….