Today about a dozen members of the Toronto Field Naturalists joined Carol and I for some raptor watching. The weather was less than optimal at the beginning of the day,which unfortunatly meant things started very slow. With perseverence,an Osprey flew past very close offering a fantastic view. We did share a number of sightings of Sharp-shinned Hawks and Markus saw an American Crow attack a Broadwinged Hawk. A Merlin attacked a Sharpshinned Hawk too. As the last remaining TFN member left at 2pm,we had seen only 55 raptors. From 2pm-2:08pm (not a typo)Carol and I saw 31 Sharpshins,18 of which were in a messy kettle with one Coopers Hawk. Soon a few straggling TFN members arrived surprised to find us still on site and counting up a storm. Sharp-shinned Hawks were flying fast and furious,a few Broadwinged hawks(one attacked by the local Coopers Hawk),a few more Osprey,a few Kestrels and another Merlin attacking another Sharpie. In both cases the explosive speed of the Merlin was seen and marvelled at! At 4:30pm when things were finally packed in,156 raptors were seen.
1 Turkey Vulture
6 Osprey
1 Northern Harrier
126 Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 Coopers Hawk
4 Broadwinged Hawk
7 Redtailed hawk
5 American Kestrel
4 Merlin
Tomorrow and Saturday look very good if weather forecasts hold.
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