With strong wind gustng from the WNW and at times the NW, the park had a totally different feel to it today...FALL! Please not so fast! Those gathered at the park were hoping to see a surge of raptors scrambling to the south but unfortunately that never materialized. A few things that did occur were of interest though. One somewhat odd sighting today was of an Osprey way up high over Kingston Road carrying a huge fish (a carp, I believe). We have seen this a couple of times before at Rosetta but usually the birds were flying more out over the lake. Another sighting was of a group of 3 Broad-winged Hawks moving eastward over the park, that was quickly followed by another group of 4 a few minutes later. One eventually worked his way back westward. Hopefully the others will sort themselves out and turn around. Another Bald Eagle was added to the count today. It too was way up high. With 100% cloud cover, lighting conditions were terrible throughout the afternoon.
Today:
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1
Total - 5
To Date:
Osprey - 9
Bald Eagle - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Copper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 3
Total - 30
Eagle Time (EDT):
12:57 PM - BE (unknown age)
Here are a couple of cropped photos that I got of the high flyers today.
Osprey
Bald Eagle
This is one Kris took.
Broad-winged Hawk
My thanks to everyone for a great job spotting and identifying the birds under such lousy lighting conditions. One of the local Turkey Vultures and the local Cooper's Hawk made brief appearances as well today. Butterflies were few and far between but we did see an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and Black Swallowtail together on the same Butterfly Bush.
Watchers today included, Leon, Ron, John, Don, Kris, Theresa, Phil, Berle, Peter, Betty, Carol, Terry, and Bruce.
We'll try again tomorrow.
Walter
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