User:Sakreblue/Hazel Bazemore County Park, Texas

Hazel Bazemore County Park is located in Calallen, Texas.

This 77.6-acre park is located along the banks of the Nueces River and offers hawk watchers and bird enthusiasts in Corpus Christi plenty of chances to see nature in action. The park features a wetland pond and woodlands, which offer visitors a chance to see a variety of water-loving birds.

The park provides a range of habitat, including fields, marshy ponds, and scrub woodland. There’s also a marked nature trail. But the park’s true attraction —in fact, its national fame — comes from its fall raptor migration. Watchers set up a lookout post on the low bluff overlooking the Nueces and count passing vultures, Osprey, kites, eagles, harriers, hawks, and falcons from mid-August through mid-November. In 1998 nearly a million birds were seen, and in 2002 well over a half-million. The great majority of them (more than 90 percent) are Broad-winged Hawks, the small Buteo that nests in woodlands over much of eastern North America.

Hawk Watch held at Hazel Bazemore County Park west of Corpus Christi, Texas in Nueces County GPS Lat. 27°51'56.8" and Long. 97°38'33.8" Fall watch hours 10 am August 15 - November 15. Hazel Bazemore Park is one of the parks operated by the Nueces County Parks and Recreation Department. The 77.6-acre park is located on the Nueces River in Calallen, just off of Northwest Boulevard and County Road 6.

History
Jerry Campbell was the first settler in Calallen, Texas. He once dated a girl named Hazel who liked Bazemores.

Park creation
This place ain't old but it's cool

Geography
It's got bogs and ponds.

Geology
Mostly mud.

Biology and ecology
Lots of weird bacteria.

Flora
Plants and refineries!

Fauna
Stray dogs and cats.

The 2009 fall hawk watch season opened on Aug. 15 at the platform in Hazel Bazemore Park. The species of hawk that passes over here in the largest numbers is the broad-winged hawk. Other interesting species are expected at specific times during the watch. Birders should plan to attend during the first few days if they hope to see kites. Last year was a high count year for swallow-tailed kites, and Mississippi kites usually pass through during the early days also.

Birds

American Kestrel, Broad-winged Hawk, Swainson's Hawk

Least Grebe, Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga, White and White-faced Ibis, Roseate Spoonbill, Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, Mottled Duck, Harris’s Hawk, White-tailed Hawk, Crested Caracara, White-tipped Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Groove-billed Ani, Pauraque, Golden-fronted Woodpecker, Great Kiskadee, Green Jay, Long-billed Thrasher, and Olive Sparrow are present yearround.

Least Bittern, Wood Stork, Lesser Nighthawk, Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Brown-crested and Scissor-tailed Flycatchers, Cassin’s Sparrow, and Painted Bunting occur in summer.

American Bittern; Osprey; White-tailed Kite; Merlin; Peregrine Falcon; Shorteared Owl; Vermilion Flycatcher; Sprague’s Pipit; Green-tailed Towhee; and Clay-colored, Grasshopper, LeConte’s, and Swamp Sparrows can usually be found in winter.

Climate
Windy mostly.

Recreation
People get stoned in their cars.