Oct 28th Cave Swallows..Bluebirds and a few Raptors

Many House Finch were seen migrating today.

Many Eastern Bluebirds passed us.

Walter,Joe,Ann,Carol,Berle,Pat,Nancy,Hugh,Terry and I saw a large movement of small birds today,while raptors were slow. With less than ideal viewing conditions,Walter and I were frustrated a few times on birds. Eventually between a few periods of decent lighting and some confirming photos taken by Ann Brokelman we ID'd Eastern Bluebirds. Throught the day we had been seeing Swallows fly by. We saw a small "flock" of 7,as well as a few more small groups of 5. The ones that finally convinced us we were very likely seeing Cave Swallows were 2 together. We got good long looks and were convinced as we could be. Luckily Ann had arrived and was at the ready with her camera. She got 2 decent shots as they went by. Independantly Walter and I did our best to confirm our sighting. All of the swallows we saw seemed to be the same as the one in Ann's photos. This is bird #189 for Rosetta and for myself,Walter and Ann a life bird! I dont doubt there could be others tomorrow. Not coincidentally Paul Prior reported what he thought could be Cave Swallows at the Leslie Spit,which is just along the lakeshore to us. Additionally at Long Point,at least 100 were reported in the area. A real thrill to see...great luck that Ann got a couple of shots too.

I have sent the photos to a few experts and thus far their opinions confirm Cave Swallow. I have not used their names here as yet as confirming the sightings,as they like to guard their reputations and be 100% confident. I do respect this and expect by tomorrow,I will formally be able to thank them for their help.

Other than the "local" Goshawk going by at Mach2 being chased by American Crows,there was nothing miraculous raptor wise.

Raptors seen were:

3-Northern Harriers

3-Sharpshinned Hawks

1-Coopers Hawk

4-Redtailed Hawks

1-Peregrine Falcon

Tomorrows conditions look great for a large movement of raptors. Lets hope the birds read the same weather reports. We will be on the look out for more Cave Swallows,Bluebirds and maybe a Boreal Chickadee. Dress warm. Bathrooms are available until 2pm reliably during the week right now. We fully expect to go well over our season high final count of 5844 tomorrow as we have now seen a total of 5841 raptors so far this fall. We are hopeful of topping 6000 by seasons end come November 30th.