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Seen something cool this morning

Posted By: SapperTitan

Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 05:31 PM

On the way out from hog hunting I noticed a bunch of birds circling above. At first I thought they were buzzards but looked to light colored. I got the binoculars out and could see hawks and a few buzzards. There must have been at least 100 of them never seen anything like it so I googled it and found out that raptors will flock together and circle before migrating. Looked very similar to the pic below I found online. Have y'all ever seen hawks do this?


Posted By: SnakeWrangler

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 05:36 PM

Never seen it or even heard of it....that would be a kool sight!
Posted By: Erathkid

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 06:20 PM

I have seen that before. I think it's called a "Hawk storm". Every year we have Mississippi kites (raptors) migrate through about this time of year. I'm talking hundreds. Pretty cool.
Posted By: rdmac

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 06:30 PM

Last year I saw the same thing in Midlothian. Pretty cool to see!
Posted By: WileyCoyote

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 07:18 PM

Yes ...also Mississippi Kites, at Lake Texoma...thought at first they were strange looking "seagulls" as several breeds of seagulls use the lake regularly, and at the wrong time of year.
Ron
Posted By: J.G.

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 08:00 PM

Maybe cool air is finally coming!

I've never seen raptors do that, either.
Posted By: copperhead

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 08:17 PM

I've seen it maybe a couple times in my life, it's a very cool sight.
Posted By: Ranch Dog

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:23 PM

The weirdest bird thing I've seen was on a long dirt road that descended down to the San Antonio River about a mile distant, with the road in sight that entire distance. On every fence post, left and right sat a Mississippi Kite. I even brought my truck to a stop, it was a freaky sight.
Posted By: a74aggie

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:37 PM

Never see it. That's pretty neat.
I wish the hawks around me would migrate out and leave our chickens, and quail alone.
Posted By: Simple Searcher

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:39 PM

That would have been a cool sight, I have never seen anything like it. I did see a cell tower with about 200 turkey vultures, but they were just sitting there.
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:41 PM

Gonna try and get a pic or video if they are still flying this afternoon.
Posted By: TexasKC

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:41 PM

I've seen that several times. Very cool.
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 09:43 PM

Originally Posted By: TexasKC
I've seen that several times. Very cool.
Come to think of it I may have seen it before as well and just assumed it was buzzards.
Posted By: colt45-90

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 10:24 PM

never seen
Posted By: SapperTitan

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/08/17 10:28 PM

Back out here and not a bird in sight in the sky, I guess they all caught a draft and headed south
Posted By: Stompy

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 12:10 AM

I've seen it several times here at the ranch.
Posted By: Texasphez

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 04:07 AM

See them all the time this time of year gather in the sometimes hundreds as we're plowing fields, harvesting etc. Guess I've grown so used to it I don't even hardly notice anymore. Just yesterday was driving with my wife past a field where there was a big group of them, and she pointed out how many there were, as she thought it interesting. Nothing out of ordinary to me.
Posted By: dogcatcher

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 06:37 AM

I have seen it once, years before Google and today I finally have an answer as to why.
Posted By: blackcoal

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 09:03 AM

Several times, just a matter of being outside quite often, paying attention, and luck of being in the right spot.
Posted By: MWTX270

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 11:57 AM

I seen them Sunday morning about 10 AM, in Palo Pinto county. I thought they were buzzards, but when I got close, I could see they were some kind of a hawk. Very neet, and the first time I witnessed something like it, in my 62 years.
Posted By: Nogalus Prairie

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 12:04 PM

I have heard of it. John Graves wrote about "hawk storms" in one of his books. I have never seen it. I'll bet it was neat to see.
Posted By: Freeman

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 12:24 PM

Last year I got yo watch a similar gathering of hawks near Purmela--really cool sight!
Posted By: PMK

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 04:26 PM

yep, seen it several times years ago but didn't know what was going on. Had a deer lease in northern Williamson county between Florence and Briggs that must have been a migration path.

Then a few years back the wife and I went to Rockport for their annual hummingbird festival 2nd or 3rd weekend in Sept, took an excursion out to a high fenced ranch about an hour inland that had a hay ride of sorts at day break to see native creatures with a biologist as one of the guides. The guide got all giddy when she started seeing the hawks mid morning start spiraling upward catching thermals to get altitude then would head southward thermal to thermal for migration. It was pretty cool sight to see as the other hawks would watch for one to catch a good uplift thermal and others would start joining in up to 25-30 circling upward like buzzards. There were several plumes of hawks within sight ...
Posted By: Texan Til I Die

Re: Seen something cool this morning - 10/09/17 08:20 PM

Originally Posted By: Ranch Dog
The weirdest bird thing I've seen was on a long dirt road that descended down to the San Antonio River about a mile distant, with the road in sight that entire distance. On every fence post, left and right sat a Mississippi Kite. I even brought my truck to a stop, it was a freaky sight.
That's the way it was at my old lease is west Texas. The hawks (or whatever they were) would show up all of a sudden and every powerline pole would have one sitting on it. It also put the quail into full panic mode.
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