Many thanks to all who dropped by today and enjoyed some fantastic birds. Special Thanks to Colin Horstead,Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway,without whose help my head would have been spinning even more than it did. Todays incredible count included:
Osprey...........12(new one day record)
Bald Eagle........5(4 adults)
Harrier............16
Sharpshins......201
Broadwings......19
Redtailed Hawk..6
Kestrel.............41
Merlin...............10(new one day record)
Sept 9 Total...310
Special sightings included 4 adult Bald Eagles,2 which circled together right over the park. An amazing 12 Osprey and 10 Merlin were tallied which were new one day high totals. Jean spotted a Common Nighthawk and 5 American Black Ducks. My total for this year is now 885,which is one short of last years total as at Sept 30. More help has undoubtedly helped spot more raptors,but I also think this is the first "normal fall" we've had in several years.
Another great day of raptor watching at Rosetta McClain Gardens. Several folks joined Colin and I today,including Charlie(a frequent Cranberry Marsh attendee),Fred and young Wyatt(aged 4 and a budding birder). Sharing birds with them and several passersby made the day more enjoyable. The most noteworthy bird was a Merlin,which circled beautifully for us,making a few hunting forrays around the park,disappearing back to the east before exiting stage west. At one point it flew very near a Kestrel,giving a wonderful chance to compare,size,colouring,flight cadence and all round gist.
Kestrels were the early birds,later Sharpshinned Hawks were the prevalent bird.
------------------- Todays Totals------------YTD
Bald Eagle ........... ........1.................................10
Turkey Vulture...............0..................................9
Osprey..........................0..................................25
Northern Harrier...........2...................................51
Sharpshinned Hawk.....65................................219
Coopers Hawk.............0....................................11
Broadwinged Hawk......0.....................................50
Redtailed Hawk............1....................................27
American Kestrel.........48..................................164
Merlin...........................2......................................3
Peregrine Falcon...........0.......................................6
Totals........................119....................................575
Today was another terrific day! I was joined today by 3 freinds,Terry whom I know from birding at the Leslie Spit,Jean Irons and Eleanor Beagan. Terry could barely tear himself away,to meet his wife and Jean and Eleanor enjoyed a great afternoon of sightings. Thanks to all of you for your help and commradery.
The birds ...oh ya....todays total 114 raptors,was a great surprise,despite less then optimal conditions again. Todays sightings consisted of:
Osprey....................3
Bald Eagle................2
Northern Harrier......31
Sharpshinned Hawk.45
Redtailed Hawk........4
American Kestrel.....28
Peregrine Falcon.......1
Day Total..............114
Year To Date Total 456
At one point we had 5 Northern Harriers and a few Sharpshins in the air at once. The flow of Harriers was great,and many gave fantastic views around and even below eye level. A very close Osprey gave Terry a thrill,and a Jean,Eleanor and I all enjoyed a very close Redtailed Hawk.
We had a very good shorebird,which flew past giving a good view,even if only Jean could ID it. I was glad to have her expertise,as I just watched the bird clueless as to its ID. Hudsonian Godwit,a life bird for me.
Thousands of Monarchs continued to migrate. Here is an attempt at photos. Eventually I will master raptors in flight! Hey at least I got it in frame!
On arrival today,I wasnt expecting much raptor action,the weather channel had called for morning rain,and more in afternoon. Id broken away to try some photos of Cedar Waxings in the Mountain Ash trees,it was so slow. By 10:45am I hadnt seen much,so was sitting down having a 10min nap,nodding off and on,when I hear" Your not going to see many birds like that!" As I snapped to,and cleared the haze from my head I saw Colin coming down the garden path. It turned out to be a very good thing Colin did wake me. Between 11 and 11:30am,we got 41 raptors,all started when we got on a lone Redtailed Hawk. Suddenly there were birds joining it,then as I scribbled down what we'd seen Colin says "Ive got a Bald Eagle". Now I hurriedly try to locate it and say "ok Ive got your Eagle and there are 2 Broadwings above it!" Colin replys "I dont see any Broadwings" Frank says "Well your binos are stronger so field of vision is less." Colin "My bird is circling." Frank "Mine is flying straight". Finally we both realized for certain we are on 2 different Eagles.
For an hour,the birds all seemed to be really high and going out over the lake to avoid the big grey clouds. At least 3 times ominous looking grey/black clouds were coming towards us from the north,but each time they broke up before it rained on us,and the birds just kept on coming. By "staying on" birds,suddenly more would appear. We saw one Kestrel,and quickly a 2nd came into view,just as Colin and I both got on to the bird,it snagged a dragonfly,and ate on the wing as it continued onward.
Our final total doubled my year to date count. We saw 172 raptors today,consisting of,
Osprey...........3
Bald Eagle.......3
Harriers..........6
Sharpies........64
Coopers.........2
Broadwings....41
Redtailed.........4
Kestrels.........49The 41 Broadwinged Hawks today is more then the previous 2 fall seasons totals combined(only 18 in 2005 and 22 in 2005..current year total including todays 41 is now 50) . Preliminarily I attribute this to Colins expert help,and more seasonal weather conditions then the last 2 seasons. Counts of over 100 raptors are special days,this is the earliest Ive had one. Of special none raptor note...thousands and thousands of Monarch Butterflys moving through,all day long. Every direction we looked we saw Monarchs,they were beautiful,though distracting,as we tried to separate the Monarchs from the birds in our binocular views.
Though the day was overcast and even sprinkled rain on us briefly,myself,Ron,Jean,Eleanor and Colin saw a few good raptors,7 in all,including a Peregrine Falcon,Coopers Hawk,3 Sharpies,an Osprey and a nice surprise,a juvenile Broadwinged Hawk that landed in the park. It was harrassed by a few American Crows,and moved around within the park,giving us nice views. Its the first time in 3 years that a Broadwing has perched in the park. It was more heavily mottled than normally observed(at least by Colin and I). I got this quick photo,which while not as good as Id like does show the heavy mottling,obvious malar mark(dark stripe near eye) and fully marked chest(as opposed to belly banded Redtailed Hawk).Juvenile Broad-winged Hawk 
Finally today,after 2 days of rain and generally poor weather,day long north-west winds made for a very good, still early migration day. The day started slowly,before it greatly improved. A Bald Eagle(2nd year) was seen by myself,Colin and a few passersby,as it gave us at least a 10minute view at 11am. Its possible this was one seen at Cranberry Marsh today too. A Peregrine Falcon,hugged the lakeshore as it went past below us. Later a Merlin went through the park,barely above the trees,at hyper-speed,but clearly identifiable. A Sharpshinned Hawk attacked a Red-winged Blackbird from nowhere,as during a lull we were watching the blackbird..quite a thrill. As a new raptor enthusiast,Carol really enjoyed seeing many Sharpshinned Hawks and Kestrels,and a beautiful Osprey which passed us,very close to the bluffs. The final break down was:
Turkey Vulture..........2
Osprey.....................3
Bald Eagle................1
Northern Harrier.......2
Sharpshinned Hawk.30
Coopers Hawk.........1
Redtailed Hawk........2
American Kestrel......4
Merlin.......................1
Peregrine Falcon.......1
Total Sept 4............47
10 species in a day was wonderful to see. How is this for consistant? Last season on Sept 3 my total was 163 for the fall,as of today my total for 2006 is 163. Thanks again to everyone who visited,helped and took interest..
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Many thanks to all who dropped by today and enjoyed some fantastic birds. Special Thanks to Colin Horstead,Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway,without whose help my head would have been spinning even more than it did. Todays incredible count included:.jpg)
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