They Who Eat Snakes with Feet

After a seriously bumping landing in Vegas and a similar rough landing on the way back, I can now proclaim we had a successful birding trip in Sin City. During the course of outing, I am quite religious about copying all the contents of the digital card(s) to two separate portable drives at the end of each day. Recharge the battery(ies), format the card(s) and get ready for the next day. I am careful about only using one drive to do any quick validations and count tallies to insure one copy stays pristine. At the end of the trip, those two drives end up being uncomfortably close together, causing a high degree of worry until the contents of one of the drives is copied onto the highly redundant NAS drives and another copy on the work drives for later digital processing. Can you tell I’ve lived an Information Technology life – TRUST NO ELECTRONIC DEVICE MADE BY HUMAN HANDS ha. Everything safely copied – stress levels return to normal. I did get a chance to update this year’s Average Year stats (link here). Official count comes in at +26 for the Vegas trip with 9 new lifers bringing the current total to 237 with 14 lifers (Ron currently sits at 158 with 12 lifers). 35 birds ahead of last year’s pace – not too shabby only a few months into ’23.

Hope you all enjoyed Brad’s Yellowstone series – it definitely has Linda and I motivated to book a trip back out there. It is time for me to get back on the post horse and earn my keep. Ironically, with the prior notes about how well this year’s birding is going, I’ve decided to feature a bird that successfully eluded us this year.

Grey Hawk found at Quinta Mazatlan, McAllen, TX in January 2022

As you will see later in the post, the Grey Hawk (Technically Gray Hawk) has a very limited presence in the United States.  Not to be confused with the male Northern Harrier which is often referred to as the Grey Ghost (link here).  This Hawk one of the top When we head down to Texas each January, this is one of the targets at the top of the list.

Hit the jump to read more about this relatively rare visitor to our southern border.

In a previous post I featured a specimen found at Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park in 2020 (link here). Not overly proud of those previous shots, but sometimes you have to take what they give you and look for better opportunities in the future. Luckily didn’t have too long to wait as the series of shots you are looking at here come exactly one year later. Not likely to tell between them in these shots, but there were actually two specimens patrolling the skies that day.

I need to give “locating” credit to a group of birders that happened to be visiting Quinta Mazatlan the same day we showed up. As Linda pulled the RV into the visitor parking lot we noticed a group of people standing off to the side cameras and binoculars at the ready. Trust me, this is what you hope to see whenever you show up at a birding location, hell, any wildlife setting for that matter. Something good and juicy is abound and someone already has eyes on it. Asked Linda to stop, jumped out camera in tow and politely asked them what was on the menu. “Two Grey Hawks circling overhead!” That will do ha! Quickly located them and started working the shutter.

Grey Hawk found at Quinta Mazatlan, McAllen, TX in January 2022

Not sure if they noticed our RV plates or it somehow came up in our brief introductions, but it turns out they were a birding group (or at least on a guided birding tour) from Chicago, IL. Ron had not arrived down there yet, but he would have felt right at home. What are the chances you drive miles and miles across several days and manage to pick one of several hundred of birding hotspots and find yourself conversing with birders a mere 3 hours north of home (or next door if you are Ron). That was also the one and only encounter we had with the Grey that entire trip. Wish we would have had that much luck on the Vegas tables!

Linda’s years in IT and stint in cyber-security has made her quite the online sleuther. She quickly found the blog for that group and we were busy catching up on all the spots they had visited and what they had found so far. This is also where we learned about the Burrowing owl that was wintering at the Progress Sod Farms (link here). Just to follow that encounter through, Ron and I were birding Montrose Bird Sanctuary and ended up meeting a lady (Jane) that was also there at Quinta. She showed us the Merlin Sound ID app and we’ve been addicted to it ever since.

You probably really want to learn more about this monotoned hawk. I took this screen capture from Cornell just to give you a feel for what a small footprint there is available to us. Mostly tiny migration inroads from Central America – one in Arizona and two places in Texas. It is too small to see, but there is a very small area at the tip of Texas where they tend to hang out year round – obviously that happens to include the McAllen area where Quinta Mazatlan is located.

Grey Hawk Region Map from Cornell

The Grey Hawk has went through a few family changes in its history, being once in its own genus called Asturina mainly due to its “accipiterlike” flight patterns and being relatively smaller than the other Buteos where it now resides. There were once even called the Mexican Goshawk – at least they finally ended up with a name that helps out in the field. Cornell also notes they are primarily Lizard eaters which means they immediately become Linda’s favorite bird of all time. She believes all those critters are just Snakes with legs and if you have been following this blog for any length of time, you already know for Linda the only good Snake is a dead Snake… as in whack it 50 times with a 2×4, turn it over and then proceed to whack it 25 more times to make sure there is zero chance some muscle might still have a twitch left in it. For those concerned, you will be happy to know I deal with ALL things that slither and compassionately relocate them secret and undisclosed location far far away (shhhh, as far as she knows) – assuming, of course, I see them first.

As I mentioned earlier, this species remains unchecked from our trip down there this year. Ron and I did hear one (confirmed by Merlin), but unable to track it down in the thick trees at Quinta. Sure hope that doesn’t come back to bite us on our quest to break 300 species this year.

Will leave it there folks, have a lot of training miles to make up from the Vegas trip and need to get on that stat before he head out again at the end of the month. Take care, stay safe and these days, trust your own eyes for the truth.

39 thoughts on “They Who Eat Snakes with Feet”

  1. Welcome back. Nicely sharp hawk photos. I think it was looking for your backup drives, it knew there were two close together. We bumped into tour guides at the lighthouse on Kauai that lived in Peoria during their off season.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. We like Vegas, but we are glad to be back home. Those birds better STAY AWAY FROM MY BACKUPS!!! I know my brother was in Aruba and his wife needed some medical attention – turns out the doctor there was originally from their hometown and went to school at the U of I – you just never know.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

        1. Ahh, Steven, a true genus lost too soon. I always remember his skit on that feeling you get right before you chair tips all the way back and how he feels that way all the time… I can relate ha.

          Liked by 1 person

          Reply

  2. This must be one of Linda’s favorite birds. It is a beauty. The grey hawks I see around here are Mississippi Kites. Good going on your bird count for the year.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Yes, Linda definitely appreciates enemies of her enemies – this doesn’t hold true to the Red Tails around here as one almost dropped a snake in her convertible when she was driving out here in the country – she has never forgiven the entire species for that. I really like Kites. Only had one encounter with the Mississippi variety, but get to enjoy the White-Tailed variety during our stays in Texas. Beautiful birds…deadly, but beautiful. Thanks for dropping in Tim, always good to hear from you.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  3. Nice pics, and fun coincidence. It can sometimes be a small world. Bird pun intended. Enjoy your travels. My knees are shot from years of running, so am envious of those who still can. Good luck with the training.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you Jerry. Although it took a toll on other parts of my body, my years and years in martial arts definitely strengthened the knees up. It also helped tremendously when I moved to the trails, taking a lot of the jarring impact off. Now if I can just stop clipping roots ha. Appreciate you coming by and joining the conversation.

      Like

      Reply

    1. Thank you! Always helps when the subject cooperates with me, circling several times before taking off giving me ample time to get something decent in the tin. Appreciate your visit.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

    1. Thank you Rudi! – Timing is everything and in this particular case really lucked out. After several circles both took off and never seen again that day. Like you new site, nice job on that.

      Like

      Reply

  6. Wow, that is quite the bird. Just gorgeous. I clicked on the visit button here to go to your web page, but it kept saying web page not found. I am not sure if that is on my end or not. I always like going to peoples web pages to read their post. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Hmmm, that is a bit concerning… you might try going direct from your browser – https://wildlifeintrigued.com/ and see if that will come up, it might be just the reader acting up, although in today’s IT world you never know what the problem is (I blame crappy programmers ha). Let me know if the direct link here works for you – if not I’ll try looking into it and see what’s up.

      Like

      Reply

    1. Ah, likely an issue with the reader then. I do not use that very often and thus not familiar with it – like you mentioned in your previous comment I prefer to go directly to their websites. Having come from the corporate IT world I can confirm it is always something – used to be annoyed by all the issues with software (internally developed and purchases) until someone pointed out they wouldn’t need my (or Linda’s) services if things ran as expected. Do it right the first time or pay me (and Linda) a hefty salary to troubleshoot and fix it ha.

      Like

      Reply

  8. Great photos of a stunning bird! And I’m totally with you regarding the need for electronic backups. Was never so bummed as in Alaska, having transferred photos from camera chip to working drive, failed one evening to copy to backup drive… and woke next morning to a dead computer. Hard drive crash. Only one day lost, but NOT fun. Looking forward to hearing about the other new birds you captured.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. It’s horror stories like yours that confirms all the extra steps (and investment) I take to preserve my tins. Ground into me during my many years in corporate IT, I could fix just about anything as long as I had access to the data – no data/no files/not even a hardcopy meant back to the drawing board – there were actually sections in are legacy systems labeled as no-go zones as the expertise for the logic had long since retired or the technology used to develop it no longer existed, luckily made it to retirement without those areas failing. At one time after Linda’s heart surgery she was hooked up to three pacemakers and I thought that was perfect, a failover for the failover. Then she gets ready to leave the hospital and they took two away – that didn’t make me feel good at all and has been disconcerting ever since – call me skeptical, but I’ve witnessed things considered rock solid still fail. At least it calls up to the mothership from time to time to let Skynet know how it is going. I’m definitely working on getting the new tins in a state I’m wiling to let people see – stay tuned.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  9. Grey or Gray hawks! Hummmm… seem they have the same problem I do, no one can properly spell my colorless drab last name! Beautiful shots!
    Universe works in strange ways sometimes, meaning running into bird watchers from IL in TX!
    The bird watchers here were all located at one of our canoe spots this week as the Crown Cranes stopped on their migration path, pushed west as a huge snowstorm hit Germany. Just saying… you could hit over 300 mark if you came to Europe.😊

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. I didn’t even think about the name issue, especially over there as they tend to us the ‘e’ version more consistently. Somewhere along the line I adopted the ‘e’ as well (and thanks to my former career I slash my zeros, cross my 7’s and Zs and print only in caps) You never know where you are going to come into contact with Illinois birders – they are a shifty lot and can sneak up anywhere ha. Those are really cool Cranes, I can imagine the excitement – our mutual friend B. has told stories about the aggressive twitching that happens over there across the pond. I have a few more birds to get here it the states and then I’ll assuredly start looking in your direction to keep the bird count going – don’t tell Ron though or he’ll be making his way over there as soon as possible to get ahead of my count ha. Appreciate you coming by CJ and congrats again on completing the trail.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

          2. A Stork is one up on me this year – fingers crossed I can get one in the tin in our upcoming trip back to the south. Ron is meeting us down there so I won’t be able to add to my lead, but will get me ever-closer to that 300 high water mark.

            Liked by 1 person

          4. Must have just dropped one off to a lucky couple! The only Storks I have seen in person are the Wood Storks thanks to a previous trip to Georgia – based on the number in that rookery, they were having another “baby boom” in that state. Not going that far west on our upcoming trip, but Cornell indicates they hang out all along the Gulf Coast so there is still a chance (for the record I have never seen them on the Texas/Louisiana side of the Gulf – will let you know the status of Alabama and the Panhandle).

            Liked by 1 person

    1. I have tons of issues with that WordPress follow button and see that from time to time when I am trying to get subscribed to other blogs. Usually it takes my email on the 2nd or 3rd try even though I enter the exact same address. I did get a notice that I had a new follower that looked like you, but not positive on that. I can also add you manually if needed – just send me your address to my mailing address at ‘doerfpub @hotmail.com’ (remove the space before the @ sign). Appreciate your follow!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a reply to doerfpub Cancel reply