ANY BIRDERS OUT THERE---WHAT WERE THEY??

hornet driver · Apr 29, 2015

So I'm sitting on my deck and I happen to see something really--really up there !! I looked closer and saw a flock of something gathering in a thermal---not unlike vultures but way higher and way more. Altitude was 5 to 7 thousand ft and there were 70 to 100 birds. They were not vultures and flew in a much tighter and faster group than vultures but they were about the same size. I got the binocs out and really couldn't tell much more but they immediately broke out of the thermal and headed southwest in a loose but gathering V formation. I thought Sandhill cranes but these birds where dark in color. I live near the water in North Tx. but have not seen anything around river here that looks like this---mostly Herons and such with a few Cormorants---any Idea what these might have been?? They seemed larger than cormorants and about the same size as a crane but at that distance I could be way off !!

Wayco · Apr 29, 2015

I got a shot of sand hill cranes a couple of years ago:

They were about 1000 ft. up and that shot was with a telephoto lens.

Zeus-cat · Apr 29, 2015

Kinda look like pterodactyls.

Igotnothing · Apr 30, 2015

Imagine you are in an aircraft made out of a bed sheet and dental floss (paraglider). You are in a thermal about a mile up and you see a flock of these things coming your way. They are one of the few water birds that regularly use thermals to extend their flying. They also fly like drunken roller skaters. But they can see well enough to know that you have a thermal they could use.

It is time to move on.

Sooner Boomer · Apr 30, 2015

Pelicans. They migrate through here about this time of year.

TopRamen · Apr 30, 2015

Teratorns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teratornithidae

Wayco · Apr 30, 2015

sooner.boomer said:
Pelicans. They migrate through here about this time of year.

This might be the case, I found this in Wiki:

A fibrous layer deep in the breast muscles can hold the wings rigidly horizontal for gliding and soaring. Thus they use thermals for soaring to heights of 3000 m (10,000 ft) or more,^[55] combined both with gliding and with flapping flight in V formation, to commute distances of up to 150 km (93 mi) to feeding areas.^[17] Pelicans also fly low (or "skim") over stretches of water, using a phenomenon known as ground effect to reduce drag and increase lift. As the air flows between the wings and the water surface it is compressed to a higher density and exerts a stronger upward force against the bird above.^[56]Hence substantial energy is saved while flying.

I have observed the "ground effect" flight many times, but have never seen a pelican at altitude. It would be easy to tell the difference between the sandhill cranes and a pelican in flight, wings and head are totally different. The cranes pictured above were pictured on an overcast day, so they look darker than they really are.
Pelicans are one of my favorite birds, we collect stuffed toys, glass statues and various other versions of this bird.

The_Lone_Beagle · May 1, 2015

I'd be curious to find out what they were...pelicans would be cool/amazing.

I'm used to seeing them gliding close to the water and using the ground effect...to think they would just glide and soar at altitude would be very cool.

hornet driver · May 1, 2015

The pelican idea is intriguing, I'm going to do some more investigation about that. I did find out , smack in the middle of April and May, cormorants migrate through here in a south western direction. I've seen several in the river behind the apt. in the last couple weeks but none the last couple of days. As I said before, the birds I saw were flying in the thermal much faster and tighter that vultures and when they headed south west they were hauling the mail--much faster than cranes. I thought they were larger than cormorants but at that distance who knows---when I noticed them they were tiny black dots against a cloud in the background---only with binocs could I begin to make out their shape.

this is a map I found of the cormorants migration route. I'm in the Dallas Tx. area. It's food for . I'm gonna continue to look into the pelican theory though---the mystery continues ----H----Ya Know, thinking about it the little buggers are around here in early December !!! HMMM

The_Lone_Beagle · May 2, 2015

talked to a birder friend of mine, and she said they could have been white pelicans.

Found this image at and other good info at The Dallas/Ft. Worth Urban Wildlife web page...isn't that (sort of) near you?

I found this (still looking) about white pelicans

From that website:

RANGE/MIGRATION

American White Pelicans segregate well into two separate geographic groups. Populations breeding east of the Rocky Mountains migrate south and east, mostly along river valleys, to winter along the Gulf of Mexico. Populations west of the Rockies migrate over deserts and mountains to the Pacific coast. Migration occurs mainly during daylight in flocks sometimes numbering in the hundreds, often flying in the familiar V-formation and using thermals when available. Fall migration is protracted, with individuals lingering on southerly breeding grounds as late as December in mild winters. Spring arrival on breeding grounds is as early as February in Nevada, March in Utah, and April in Wyoming and Manitoba, usually before lakes but after rivers have thawed, providing some foraging sites even if nest sites are inaccessible. Large numbers of migrating pelicans can be seen in fall at Horicon National Wildlife Refuge in Wisconsin; in spring at Deer Flat National Wildlife Refuge in Idaho; and in both seasons at Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area in Kansas and Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota.

TopRamen · May 2, 2015

hornet driver · May 3, 2015

The_Lone_Beagle said:
talked to a birder friend of mine, and she said they could have been white pelicans.

Found this image at and other good info at The Dallas/Ft. Worth Urban Wildlife web page...isn't that (sort of) near you?

I found this (still looking) about white pelicans

From that website:

I gotta tell ya, That's pretty darn close to what I saw !! In fact, about dead on. The article says fall migration so there's a bit of a timing problem. The little beasties would move around in six month cycles though !! The high altitude also matches up with pelicans. Between you and Dan, I'm leaning to the pelican theory now. I guess we've narrowed it down to some sort of really big water foul. Cormorants fly with a much different wing profile, so I think you guys might have nailed it.---H

hornet driver · May 3, 2015

TopRamen said:
View attachment 262282

No, that's not it. That's HANK, He hangs out on top of the 400 building in our complex and keeps the riff raff out. I still get a kick, seeing those skate boarders yelling and waving their arms as they get dropped into the river.

The_Lone_Beagle · May 4, 2015

About the *spring* migration, over at this page people posted about sighting the Spring Migration.

And specifically for 2015, somebody posted:

Sunday, April 19 6pm And we just saw thousands pass over – so low – in western Washington County.
So beautiful and on a wind current; probably no more than 100 feet high; they had to dodge our oak trees! – enough to bring tears to your eyes . . .

ANY BIRDERS OUT THERE---WHAT WERE THEY??

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