Special Post: No more 'Comments' until further notice.

Just wanted to let everyone know that the 'Comments' section of the blog has been shut down until we start hawk watching again in August.  Lately the blog has been receiving literally hundreds of useless spam comments from anonymous users.  Hopefully we can find a solution to this problem before too long.

All Raptored Up For Another Season...The Records Fell Final Total 7267

What a year gang!!! First and foremost, I must thank Walter, not only for his summary of all of this seasons numbers, but his constant support and great work helping to run the watch. I couldnt do it so well without you Walter, fantastic job!!
   The raptor watch gang observed so many amazing things this season, it is all a blur. August started off slow, but in the end we had our 2nd best August ever. The 28th saw our highest one day count in August ever, at 120! The following day we saw 8 Bald Eagles. Bring on September.
  September saw some fantastic views of Broadwinged Hawks. While Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch doesnt see huge numbers of Broadwings, we get many amazingly close views, to make up for our lack of volume.  September saw a fantastic total of 51 Peregrine Falcons, our best ever total of Peregrines and an indication that a new record for Peregrine Falcons in a season would come. By seasons end we saw an incredible 102 Peregrines!!
  October brought Turkey Vultures...boy did it ever!! We saw an incredible 1750 Turkey Vultures on October 12th, a new one day record, part of a one day record of 2066 raptors that day!  Everyone left that day jaw dropped. October saw us rack up Golden Eagle sightings and set us up for our best season ever. Record numbers of Red-shouldered Hawks thrilled everyone too as we crushed our season record.
  November saw Golden Eagle numbers surpass any other season and finish with 20. Hurricane Sandy held things up, towards the end of October, causing a logjam of raptors, that burst in early November. By November 5th we had 4 days with over 100 raptors in November, pushing us well beyond the November record for raptors seen in the month, not to mention surpassing 7000 raptors seen in one season for the first time ever!! Our Redtail numbers were a mere 1 away from 1000 for the season when migration all but stopped, before we finally saw #1000 very late in the month.
  What a fall it was!
 Here are the final totals...

Turkey Vulture - 2223 (best year)
Osprey - 115 (3rd best year)
Bald Eagle - 65 (3rd best year)
Northern Harrier - 266 (4th best year)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2208 (4th best year)
Cooper's Hawk - 110 (2nd best year)
Northern Goshawk - 23 (2nd best year)
Red-shouldered Hawk - 76 (best year)
Broad-winged Hawk - 347 (2nd best year)
Red-tailed Hawk - 1002 (best year)
Rough-legged Hawk - 5 (7th best year)
Golden Eagle - 20 (best year)
American Kestrel - 604 (4th best year)
Merlin - 101 (2nd best year)
Peregrine Falcon - 102 (best year)

Total - 7267 (best year)


Here are the new records (14 new, 1 tied)...

Turkey Vulture - Day record of 1750 birds on October 12th, Month record of 2051 birds in October, Year record of 2223 birds.
Red-shouldered Hawk - Day record of 19 on October 26th, Month record of 41 birds in October, Year record of 76 birds.
Red-tailed Hawk - Month record of 601 birds in November, Year record of 1002 birds.
Golden Eagle - Month record of 15 birds in November, Year record of 20 birds.
Merlin - (tied) Day record of 17 birds on October 21st.
Peregrine Falcon - Month record of 51 birds in September, Year record of 102 birds.
All Species - Day record of 2066 birds on October 12th, Year record of 7267 birds.

Walter and I thank everyone who came out to enjoy the spectacle that is fall raptor migration. We thank the staff at Rosetta McClain Gardens for their continued support, many kindnesses and friendships. Thanks to everyone who helped spot and count. Thanks to all of our watchers who are also incredible photographers for their contributions of photos to the blog. They make the mere numbers pop with excitement and come alive. Your contributions have helped the watch grow immensely. Thanks especially to our chore group of watchers and contributors for your support and friendships, Walter and I couldnt do this without all of you. We welcomed many new folks this season and we're glad to have you.  Well done to our regulars for making the new folks feel so comfortable and welcome, and for sharing all you have learned. One thing that Walter and I get so many comments about is how friendly our watchers are and how much new people enjoy becoming part of the fun.  Thanks to the various members of the press, who did stories about our watch. Increasing public awareness about the incredible birds we see can only be positive and add to our list of friends.
  Non-raptor sightings were very exciting this year too of course. This fall we added several new species to our Rosetta McClain Gardens bird list, now sitting at 197 species. Very impressive! "Northern finches" added some thrills as White-winged Crossbills, Evening Grosbeaks and Bohemian Waxwings were seen.
  We hope to see everyone over the winter and beyond. Next season is our 10th Anniversary, so I hope to have a few special events...even better than Pizza Days!  Id like those among us who have some ability to create a logo, suitable to use on the blog and maybe even a few t-shirts. Thanks again everyone!  See you at our seasons end luncheon on Dec 8th. Whoever doesnt make that I hope to see you this winter in quests for owls and other interesting winter birds. I will post from time to time over the winter.  So dont forget to check back now and then!

Redtail #1000 On A Cold Blustery Day

Finally we reached Redtail number 1000. While we thought more birds would fly today, no hawk watching sites counted very much, so we can be assured we werent missing much at least. After many days without even a single countable Redtailed Hawk, after several teasers today when local Redtails went by and came back, we were relieved to finally see one pass that wasnt familiar to us, not to be seen again.

  We had a great look at a large juvenile female Goshawk today too, giving us 23 sightings of Goshawks this season, one off our highest total ever. A few more Redtails eventually flew by giving us 1002 for the fall and almost sneaking by at 10:49am was a juvenile Bald Eagle, number 65.
   Our total was:
Bald Eagle - 1 (Juv. 10:49 am)
Northern Goshawk - 1
Redtailed Hawk - 3
Total - 5

Present today besides Walter and I were, Mike 4, Paul, Gunnar, Ron, Mike 2, Harry, Cori, and Mark. Thanks to Cori for making a run to Tim Hortons for hot chocolate and Chili to warm up Walter and I. It was much appreciated and needed!!
 At this stage, unless we get good winds from the north of some sort, its unlikely anyone will be counting. The 30th seems it may be the final wrap up, we will likely show up to make it official, no matter the weather. 

Saturday And The Party

Hi gang, a quick reminder that our end of season party is coming soon Dec 8th. We have some responses but are hoping for more! It is very informal and alot of fun!


  This Saturday looks like what may be our last chance this fall for a good raptor movement. Strong NW winds should bring some migrants of all sizes. It will be very cold so if you join us, dress very warm. I wouldnt rush to the park if U are cold averse, 11am is probably as early as you need to be there. I will be present much earlier, hoping to see small migrants before the raptors get moving. Walter and I hope to see the hardiest of raptor watchers out to join us! (and anyone with hot chocolate or Tims Chilli!!) If winds change so will the plans, so keep your eyes on the weather.

Dont Forget The Season Ending Party!!

With raptor watching season winding down, if we are very lucky there may be one more day to see raptors. Its looking increasingly unlikely, but we remain hopeful. Its time we all turned to winter finches, over wintering ducks and owls. I do hope that we will all see each other over the winter months from time to time.
  Its time to try to let Lee, Walter or myself know if you are planning to join us for our year end brunch/party/ get together at The Arkadia House on Saturday, December 8th, at 11:30 a.m.

We will be having our third annual end of year brunch on the above date. Last year we had 12 people but I think we will be closer to 20 this year. Tucker’s Marketplace, last year’s venue, has since closed down but we have a new restaurant called The Arkadia House. It is a Greek restaurant with a lot of space, amazing food and reasonable prices. Here is the lunch menu:

http://arkadiahouse.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=73

There is quite a lot of parking available. The restaurant is located at 2007 Eglinton Avenue East. It’s just west of Birchmount on the south side.

  If you check the October 27th post there are a few photos of a meal Lee and her Mom enjoyed at The Arkadia House and some other information Lee provided.  The location is pretty central to the area so anyone who can get to the watch can probably get to the brunch. I know last year everyone had a great time as with the year before that. I look forward to this years gathering.

   Leave us a note here, email me through raptor.watch@hotmail.com , contact Walter or Lee via their personal addresses or let us know face to face(well maybe not that close). Im sure it will be a good time. Who knows if there is anything interesting around maybe we will check that out as a larger group. And for those that joined us by transit and dont drive or those that just want to leave the long drives to someone else, dont forget the birding tours our buddy Murray Shields runs at  Authentic Canadian Tours. For a reasonable price, you can get to places you otherwise may not have the chance.  http://authenticcanadiantours.ca/ Murray and a sold out group are at Amherst Island today! 

 

I know most of you are done raptor watching for the season, a wrap up of the season is a few weeks away, but I wanted to thank everyone who came out and enjoyed the company of fellow birding enthusiasts and some incredible raptors! Keep your eyes on the skies! 

Squeezing Out The Last Few

Today we had a decent west wind and several of us including Ron, Peter, Terry 2, Walter and I were hoping for the elusive Redtail #1000. No luck!! We did see
1-Northern Harrier(a beautiful male)
5-Sharpshinned Hawks
2-Coopers Hawks
1-American Kestrel
9-Total Raptors

Sunday and Monday may have a chance for a few birds, but unless there is a drastic change in the forecast, there will be little to nothing before then.
  We did see some good small birds fly past, including White-winged Crossbills, a few Eastern Bluebirds, a few flocks of Common Redpolls, Purple Finch and hundreds(at least) of American Goldfinch. We saw one Red-headed Woodpecker.
  Of special note 2 swallows were seen of unknown species. Were they Cave Swallows who knows.  Keep your eyes open if U are at the park, there will be stuff to see.

Non-update and Gyrfalcon

There has been virtually nothing counted in the last few days. One lonely Sharpshinned Hawk was tallied as a migrant by Walter and a cast of a few the other day and 2 local Redtails kept getting them all excited about Redtail 1000.
  Weather has changed alot and there isnt a really good day in sight. Tuesdays strong west wind may bring a couple of birds our way? Keep your eyes open for a north wind that is 15km or more.
  Recently a Gyrfalcon has been seen near Golden Mile Plaza at Victoria Park and Eglinton (or Pharmacy and Eglinton), which is reasonably close to Rosetta McClain Gardens. Several of our raptor watch gang went to check it out. It is a very beautiful bird and awesome to watch hunting the pigeons, but within about 10 minutes of its arrival, Ann had photos which showed the bird had a breeders band on it. That means its an escaped bird that officially cant be counted for life lists. I will still follow what happens with this bird and go and view it again, as some may do, but I know alot of people wont bother now. Its too bad it wasnt a wild bird. Here are my photos of this beautiful bird, which has been in the area for a month or so and surviving on its own nicely.
  The first photo shows the breeders band.(birds right foot, tells us it belongs to a falconer)

 

And the rest.

 

Good luck to everyone who is out and about birding now. Continue to let me know of your interesting finds that you want shared and any photos. Myself Im hoping for more "winter finches", ducks and of course Owls, which I wont necessarily be posting locations of on the open boards.