Date: 10/05/2021

Number: 33

National Park Service - Amistad National Recreation Area. Been looking at this site since September 28, this is first time seeing them this fall. Roosting in clumps of 2 to 6 on huisache, hackberry and ash trees. Watching them stretch their wings when the sun starts to reach them is incredible!

[Additional information contributed by observer, added by Journey North, 10/09/21]:

I know for sure they formed the roost 10/5/21 because I've been checking daily at sunrise. Like the other site they dropped in numbers by the next day, but there were still about a dozen still there by 10/6/21. Weather conditions were basically the same as the other site (Temps overnight warm and humid, high 60s to low 70s and still over 70% humidity at dawn. Wind was very light out of the east, less than 5mph). There were a couple lantana (L. urticoides) and cowpen daisies blooming (Verbesina encelioides) and not much else. Conditions had been fairly wet in late summer but then dried out in late September. Then there was another rainstorm right at the beginning of October and plants were just barely starting to green up again. These roosts were very well protected by the wind - within a small woodland of ash, hackberry and huisache trees.

We counted them one by one when numbers are fairly low. We do use a clicker as we go. If numbers get into the 100s or over 1000 (Which they have in other years) we usually just count by clumps of 5 or 10.

We've seen this a few times in our area where we get a first mini wave of migrants after the first cold front of fall, and then a second wave occurs after the next, usually stronger cold front.

Del Rio, TX

Latitude: 29.5 Longitude: -101

Observed by: Sarah
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