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SC kites released in TX



Forwarded from Birdchat.  I'd never heard of the South Carolina Center for 
Birds of Prey before.

Will.Cook@duke.edu  Durham NC

------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:    Sun, 24 Oct 1999 21:32:19 -0700
From:    Patty Beasley <pbeasley@ELECTROTEX.COM>
Subject: Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch 10-24-99

Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch, Fall 1999
Date:   10-24-99

Hi everyone,

What a nice way to start a watch day! Thanks to weeks and weeks of efforts
by the South Carolina Center for Birds of Prey (SCCBP) in Charleston, SC,
the Texas State Aquarium (TSA) and the Hazel Bazemore Hawk Watch were
privileged to participate in the release of four Mississippi kites that
were successfully rehabilitated through the South Carolina program. One
adult and three hatch year kites were flown in last night from South
Carolina and released this morning by Michelle Setter of the Aquarium's
Animal Husbandry and Rehabilitation Division at the Hazel Bazemore Hawk
Watch. On hand to help out were hawk watchers Joel Simon, Joyce Penny,
Glenn and Jimmy Swartz, Harold Fetter and of course, Bill Beasley and I.
Also on hand and in for the surprise of his young life was Jeremy Dertien
of Austin, with his parents BJ & Julie. The Dertiens were birding with
Jeremy, who was out freshening up his life list after a long battle and
treatment for illness. Today just happened to be the day they all were at
Hazel, looking for hawks, so we enlisted Jeremy's help to release one of
the hatch year kites.

SCCBP Director Jim Elliott says the kites were a very special project and
one of the success stories that we all love to hear about. The adult kite
had been brought in with a broken radius-ulna bone from a BB gunshot.
Surgery successfully repaired the wing to allow release of the kite, an
all-too-rare occurrence for that sort of injury. The three hatch year kites
were found orphaned in the field, nests destroyed or too damaged to return
them to the parents. Elliott says the young kites were nursed to health and
then raised with kite hand puppets to insure the kites didn't imprint on
their human rescuers. As most of the North American kites have already
migrated through, there was some concern that these kites might be released
too late to migrate, but with the inclusion of an adult in the group,
Elliott hopes the migration and leadership instinct will take over and the
adult will lead its little band of kites southward.

The kites were released simultaneously in the Hazel Bazemore park
riverbottoms, after a little orientation time in the hand to look over
their new territory. All four took to wing immediately with no hesitation;
splitting into two groups of two. Two of the hatch year kites made
immediate tracks southward towards the hawk watch hill; the adult and other
hatch year peeled off north, then circled the area, getting bearings. Time
will tell if they will attempt to move on, or try to spend the season here.
For once, we're very glad our insect population is bounding from better
than usual rains in the spring, summer and fall. Our hawk watchers will be
keeping an eye out for our guests during the remaining days of watch
(through November 15th).

Pictures of Joel, Joyce, Jeremy and Jeremy's dad, BJ, releasing the kites
can be found on the Texas Hawk Watches page at the following address:

        http://www.electrotex.com/aoc/hawkwatch99/MIKI_102499/release.htm

Meanwhile, the morning excitement was the best of the day; Joel reports the
remainder of the day was quiet and slow, with blue, blue skies making it
hard to spot raptors.  [rest deleted]