Oct24 Day Count 90 YTD...5243

Today wasnt bad,but not near as good as Id hoped for. Bueteos were almost non-existant and no left over Vultures were seen. I havent heard but I dont think the strongish NW winds predicted ever materialized. Carol,Lee,Ann(on her lunch),Jaedon a newbie who joined us from the Toronto Birding Board(a message board),Margaret,Ron,Jean and myself saw a respectable 90 birds,though visitors had varying sucess. The 90 birds were made up of:

1-Bald Eagle(1:05pm Juvenile)

9-Northern Harriers

64-Sharpshinned Hawks

6-Redtailed Hawks

5-American Kestrels

5-Merlin

We had great looks at a few of the Merlin,many Sharpies a few of the Harriers and the Bald Eagle which flew close into the bluffs. Also seen were a few flocks of Eastern Bluebirds,a Carolina Wren,thousands of Red-winged Blackbirds and a beautiful ,healthy looking Red Fox.

Oct 22 And The Sharpies Keep On Comin

Today was another day of flight of the Sharpshinneds,but the excitement of the day was a local Redtailed Hawk,which has now taken to hunting the park. It perched nearby several times,and Ann got some great inflight shots too(one sample provided). Todays count of 79 Sharpies,pushed the count to a new yearly record,surpassing last years final total of 2561(current year total is 2577) with several good days yet to come.

Todays count was:

79-Sharpshinned Hawks

1-Coopers Hawk

2-Redtailed Hawks

2-American Kestrels

The Year To Date total is now 5153.

Oct 21 Adult Sharpies On The Move

The beautiful weather,that southern Ontario has been enjoying,kills migration. On the plus side,adult Sharp-shinned Hawks dont read weather reports,and seeing a good number of Sharpies is a guarentee right now. Once they decided its time to leave,they just go. Recently we have had many visitors,including my friends Rodger and Jane from Cheshire UK,Alan from New York via Grenada,Lee,Chris,Carol,Rob,Victor,Ron,Jean,Berle and others who I appologize to for not getting your names. Its been great to see so many first time visitors,that have now made return visits. New folks really make things more enjoyable,with new people to meet and get to know. All those extra eyes definetly help too. Today we added 98 raptors to the season total,breaking the 5000 raptor mark,which is 4 or 5 days ahead of last year. I will add several photos tomorrow,but wanted to get an update on. Todays total of 98 was madde up of
3-Northern Harriers
83-Sharpshinned Hawks
2-Coopers Hawks
1-Northern Goshawk
1-Redtailed Hawk
4-American Kestrels
1-Merlin
3-Peregrine Falcons(one very interesting one...stay tuned)

Our current total is 5069. Recently Pine Siskens and Surf Scoters were added to the ever increasing list of birds seen in,over and around Rosetta McClain Gardens,which stands at about 175(I will determine exact number soon). On Oct 20 2 small flocks of Eastern Bluebirds were seen flying past.