Record Day!! 755 Raptors..YTD-1901

First,sorry for the late post...computer difficulties. Now then,near perfect weather conditions,along with the able assistance of so many who joined in the watch today,resulted in the best one day count ever at Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch. Over the course of a very busy day,many thanks to Rob,Bob,Andrew,Carol,Susan,Bruce and Lorne(sorry to those I was so busy I didnt get to pay special attention too and get names..thanks to others who did though),for helping with spotting,identification and informing passersby of what we were doing. Some photos Rob took will be added later today(Sunday). Together we all really enjoyed many close views of multitutes of Sharpshinned Hawks,which sometimes passed as rapid fire as Blue Jays. I might also mention that early in the morning Bruce Rob and I saw somewhere between 5000-10000 Blue Jays migrating in wave after wave. 2 very close juvenile Peregrine Falcons interacting gave Rob and Bruce a real thrill(Id vacated for coffee...thanks Georgia for the hot coffeeRob Bruce and I enjoyed). Id promised Rob a low Bald Eagle and we vigilantly kept our eyes low along the lakeshore. Around 940am,Rob hollered that something big was flying low along the bluffs.It was so low and close,we lost sight of it in tight to the bluffs. It emerged giving us an amazing view of a juvenile(nest year) Bald Eagle. Rob,Bruce and myself shall not forget that one for awhile. Later another juvenile Bald Eagle passed by very close again as more of us were gathered to watch,providing more thrills. Some very low Broadwinged Hawks provided excellent views and Sharpshinned Hawks were appearing everywhere.By the end of the day,last seasons record one day count of 559 was shattered,with 755 raptors being recorded. This great total consisted of

6-Turkey Vultures

5-Osprey

5-Bald Eagles

54-Northern Harriers

569-Sharpshinned Hawks

4-Coopers Hawks

61-Broadwinged Hawks

9-Redtailed Hawks

39-American Kestrels

1-Merlin

2-Peregrines

Todays fantastic total puts my Year To Date count 724 raptors ahead of last season at the same date. Hopefully this trend continues. Thanks again to everyone for their contributions today.(please ignore the conflict in my running year to date counts if U read previous postings,with Sept 15 totals,a review and correction of all totals was done and as at today,all totals are correct and current that are stated in this post.