August 22nd - A Better Day Today

Today was a better for hawk watching then what we've had lately with our first northwest winds and cooler temperatures. Most of the gang showed up early today in hopes of seeing lots of raptors but unfortunately that didn't quite materialize. Our first bird of the day, a Northern Harrier, flew by at 8:45 AM this morning. The rest of the birds came through slowly over the course of the morning up until roughly 12:30 PM when things came to an end. In all we had 13 raptors for the day, the best one being an adult Broad-winged Hawk which Colin informed us was surprisingly early. He seemed to think that it might even be the earliest one that he's ever seen. That would be great news for our Hawk Watch because Colin has been watching hawks at various sites since 1975!

Here are a few fantastic photos from today:

Broad-winged Hawk (juvenile)


Cooper's Hawk (local)


Red-tailed Hawk (local)


Betty gave us all a laugh with her wonderful 'birding' socks.


The Rosetta gang during a lull in the action.


Today:
Northern Harrier - 3
Osprey - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 2
Total - 13

To Date:
Turkery Vulture - 2
Osprey - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
Broad-winged Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 4
Total - 29

Today I didn't keep a count for the songbirds seen or heard at the park but of note were 3 Common Loons flying out over the lake and sereval Hummingbirds darting around. A Viceroy butterfly was seen by many as it hung around under the apple tree and on the butterfly bush. Dragonflies were out in great numbers again today mostly consisting of Black Saddlebags and Green Darners. A Great Black Wasp was seen again today just beyond the fence. This is another insect that has recently found it's way up in to Ontario from the US, hurray for global warming!!!

Today's hawk watching group was: Carol, Terry 2, Colin, Betty, Berle, Pat & Nancy, Meghan, Peter, Ann, Murray, Gunnar, and myself.

With tomorrow morning's (Tuesday) predicted west wind, we might see a few birds that moved south today.

Walter