After a slow end to October,November started slow too,with only 5 raptors on the first. Today was somewhat better and a more normal November count of 27. Today I shared an adult Bald Eagle with buddy Terry at 940am. We had a very nice view of this bird. Sundry Harriers,Redtails,Coopers,Sharpies.Peregrine and Kestrels later,Leon and I saw 2 juvenile Golden Eagles. One was at 12:40pm the other at 1:53pm. Always a special thrill,both of these birds circled higher and higher out over the lake,eventually going onward to the southwest. We watched each for at least 10minutes or more. A very high but nice male Nothern Harrier went past. The final total consisted of a Bald Eagle,5 Harriers,6 Sharpies,2 Coopers Hawks,a Northern Goshaw (#20 of this years watch,a new record),7 Redtailed Hawks,2 Golden Eagles,2 Kestrels and a Peregrine Falcon.
October closed with several terribly slow days. Rain one day,very very high winds another meant few if any migrants. That said,it was a terrific October otherwise,with great views of record numbers of Red-shouldered Hawks,Redtailed Hawks and Golden Eagles. Brilliant views of a few Northern Goshawks and a strange albino Redtailed Hawk seen on Oct 25th. That Albino Red-tail was seen on the 29th at another hawk watch at Holiday Beach Raptor Watch,on Lake Erie,nearish the Detroit River. Kind of cool to know where some of the birds we see end up. October also saw record numbers of Turkey Vultures pass Rosetta McClain Gardens,while not an astounding total by any means,none-the-less it was more then ever b4.Octobers and this years totals so far are:Turkey Vulture...........222.............435(new record..old 372)Osprey..........................9...............92(new record..old 64)Bald Eagle.....................7...............45(new record..old 25)Northern Harrier.........144.............463(new record..old 129)Sharpshinned Hawk....859................2526(new record..old 1618)Coopers Hawk.............63................120(new record..old 94)Northern Goshawk........13.................18Redshouldered Hawk.....21.................21(new record..old 8)Broadwinged Hawk.......................225(new record..old 22)Redtailed Hawk............488...........572(new record..old 336)Roughlegged Hawk...........3................3Golden Eagle.....................6...............7(new record..old 6)American Kestrel.............40............670(new record..old 294)Merlin..............................18..............58(new record..old 25)Peregrine Falcon...............15.............57(new record..old 40)Total.............................1918..........5313(new record..old 3042) Thanks to all my raptor watching friends too numerous to mention,for making the watch both sucessful and fun. Things will slow down in November but I look forward to some good days.
