LOOK UP! Hundreds of thousands Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks are flying over Panama City right now! It all started yesterday, when the preliminary counts revealed more than 650,000 birds migrating only over the Ancon hill (counts by the Panama Audubon Society). Today was amazing... swarms of hawks and vultures all around the city... great (and I thought that thousands of birds were impressive)!!!
Other migrating birds were also present, including some Mississippi Kites (and there is one in the above photo if you enlarge it, is the lowest bird to the left), Peregrine Falcons, hordes of swallows (mostly Barn and Cliff Swallows, but few Bank Swallows too, which were new for my balcony list) and scattered flocks of my year Chimney Swift (my marginal photo shows its "jizz" -which is distinctively different from that of the
Short-tailed Swift- and its pale throat... you may need to enlarge it).
Short-tailed Swift- and its pale throat... you may need to enlarge it).Some migrants that already are residing in their wintering grounds also showed up (Osprey, Gray Kingbird), along with some year-round resident raptors, including a Short-tailed Hawk and my 52nd balcony bird, a White-tailed Kite perched atop a tree to watch the spectacle with the tolerant Gray Kingbird.
And all this from the balcony!
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Turkey vultures are gathering today in Waynesburg pa for migration. I had never seen so many circling. Your photographs were nice to see as my camera did not take good enough pictures. Thanks for posting it. I was just in awe watching them.
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