October 22nd - Turkey Vultures!!!

With almost no wind, today was a fairly slow day up until about 2:15PM. We were standing looking out over the lake when Tom, who was facing more towards the north, jokingly and very nonchalantly said "Oh, what's that?" I turned around just in time to see the north sky blackening with Vultures. I quickly went over to look through the back gap to see and count the first ones passing through. Within 15 minutes we had tallied up 178 of them streaming passed. As the Vultures were finishing up a Bald Eagle appeared over the centre of the park.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 178
Osprey - 2
Bald Eagle - 1 (adult 2:30)
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 16
Cooper's Hawk - 5
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Red-tailed Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 4
Merlin - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 223

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1736
Osprey - 124
Bald Eagle - 57
Northern Harrier - 180
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1661
Cooper's Hawk - 77
Northern Goshawk - 14
Red-shouldered Hawk - 11
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 131
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 620
Merlin - 122
Peregrine Falcon - 40
Total - 5531

American Kestrel

Merlin

Osprey

Red-shouldered Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Passing overhead today were several thousand Blackbirds in mixed flocks and many small flocks of Cedar Waxwings. Down on the lake 300+ Common Loons were counted.

Cedar Waxwing

Another fabulous bunch of people on hand today including: Lorne, Ann, Mike 2, Berle, Peter, Pat, Norm, Freida, Sam, Mike 3, Franca, Betty, Chris, Tom, Gunnar, Bob, Ron, Allison, Mark, Margaret, Carol, Sherri, and Cori.

Walter

October 21st - Our First Golden Eagle!

It was an amazing but somewhat cold day at the park today with a great variety of raptors and non-raptors on the move. The Golden Eagle was spotted just out over the lake beyond Bluffer's Park and heading right towards us. As it moved closer and closer, we watched silently hoping to be the first to make the call "It's a Golden!" Sadly, no photos were taken, most photographers had left the park by then and the rest of us were more than happy just seeing it. What a magnificent bird!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 55
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 13
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 91
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 24
Golden Eagle - 1 (juvenile 2:30)
American Kestrel - 7
Merlin - 9
Total - 213

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1558
Osprey - 122
Bald Eagle - 56
Northern Harrier - 178
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1645
Cooper's Hawk - 72
Northern Goshawk - 14
Red-shouldered Hawk - 7
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 126
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 616
Merlin - 119
Peregrine Falcon - 37
Total - 5308

Seconds after this shot was taken the bird was attacked by another Merlin. A Merlin's territory is wherever it is at that moment!

Merlin

Cooper's Hawk

Northern Harrier

Osprey

Red-shouldered Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

This RT shot was from yesterday.

All kinds of non-raptors observed migrating in decent numbers today including: Common Loon (230+), Red-breasted Merganser, Long-tailed Duck, Wing-winged Scoter, American Robin, European Starling, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush, Red-winged Blackbird, Common Grackle, Brown-headed Cowbird, and our first flocks of Eastern Bluebird.

Eastern Bluebirds

Lots of eyes on the skies today including: BIGFRANK, Ann, Tony, Allison, Terry 2, Carol, Gunnar, Betty, Mike 3, Theresa, Pat & Nancy, Barb & Ken, Ron & Jean, Hugh, Cori, Shirley, Richard, The kids from Cliffside PS, Bill, Peter, Bill 2, and Bob. Thanks for all your help today.....and the coffee, donuts, and cookies!

Walter

October 19th - Cold and Very Windy!

Not exactly sure where the NE winds were this morning, most of what we saw were east winds on land and out over the lake the winds were from the south. Many birds observed today were fighting the wind all the way across the sky. Until today, I'd never seen a Great Blue Heron soar without flapping and going along sideways and backwards. By lunch the rain had moved in and chased us out of the park.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Bald Eagle - 1 (juvenile 11:07)
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 8

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1503
Osprey - 120
Bald Eagle - 56
Northern Harrier - 165
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1554
Cooper's Hawk - 65
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 5
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 102
American Kestrel - 609
Merlin - 110
Peregrine Falcon - 37
Total - 5095

The tail-end of a Bald Eagle

This morning a few of us watched as a nice tightly packed flock of 40-50 unidentified shorebirds flew out over the lake just a little too far for our binoculars. It was so windy today that a low flying Great Blue Heron stopped and rested in the half-dead tree on the east side of the park. I believe this is a first.

Great Blue Heron

Interesting cloud formations just before it rained.

OMG, It's not a peanut!

Betty, Theresa, Hugh, Berle, Terry 2, and I all showed up this morning hoping for a good movement of birds.

Walter

October 18th - 5000!

Early this morning, thanks to Ann and Tony, we counted our 5000th raptor of the year, a Sharpie! I arrived at 9:00 AM only to find that things were already well under way with 23 birds counted and more in the air. Before long we were up and over 50. Great to see so many Sharpies coming through today.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 34
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 61
Cooper's Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 2
Total - 105

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1502
Osprey - 120
Bald Eagle - 55
Northern Harrier - 165
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1554
Cooper's Hawk - 64
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 102
American Kestrel - 608
Merlin - 108
Peregrine Falcon - 36
Total - 5087

Turkey Vultures passing overhead

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Lots of wonderful friends at the park today to enjoy the birds including: Tony, Carol, Berle, Gunnar, Terry 2, Pat, Cori, Peter, Ann, Bill, and Phil.

Walter

October 17th - 17 Merlins!

Merlins sure seem to like the southwest winds we've been experiencing the last 2 days. The photographers in the group got many truly amazing shots of these fast flying birds as they whizzed across the park just above the tree tops. We enjoyed many side-splittin' laughs as the comedy duo of Melendez & Brokelman were with us for most of the day. Ann emailed me just after dropping me off at the house and said that she had counted 43 Vultures flying above the intersection of Kingston Rd. and Midland Ave. and that they were heading for Rosetta.

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 52
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 20
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 17 (new 'day' record!)
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 100

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1468
Osprey - 120
Bald Eagle - 55
Northern Harrier - 160
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1493
Cooper's Hawk - 62
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 102
American Kestrel - 607
Merlin - 106
Peregrine Falcon - 36
Total - 4982

A couple of Sharpies

Northern Harrier

Merlin

American Kestrel

Turkey Vulture

We saw our first large group of Red-breasted Mergansers arrive today, probably 300+ strong. They, and about a hundred or so gulls went at it down on the lake in several frantic feeding frenzies. Also today we saw yet another Common Buckeye butterfly. These beautiful visitors from the U.S. have been seen all over southern Ontario this fall.

"Under a blood red sky, a crowd has gathered..." - U2

Terry doing a scan of the lake for waterfowl and low flying hawks.

Some of the many Red-breasted Mergansers that arrived today.

One of our friendly Blue Jays.

Our hawk watchers included: Bob, Ann, Janice, Terry 2, Berle, Pat, Nancy, Betty, Carol, Peter, Allison, and today we welcomed Sydney and her sister Annabelle who was visiting from Florida. Thank you all for another terrific day at the park.

Walter

October 16th - Another Record Falls!

Today was very similar to yesterday weather-wise but a few more sunny breaks and a very slight WNW wind up high probably helped get a lot more birds moving. Today was a banner day for those who are 'Merlin crazy'. With today's 9, that put us at 89 birds, 2 above the old record. There's still time for many more!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 28
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 9
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Total - 56

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1416
Osprey - 118
Bald Eagle - 55
Northern Harrier - 156
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1473
Cooper's Hawk - 61
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 757
Red-tailed Hawk - 102
American Kestrel - 604
Merlin - 89
Peregrine Falcon - 35
Total - 4882

Turkey Vulture

Just a few of the Merlins

Red-tailed Hawk (local)

Peregrine Falcon

Today we observed many Common Loons flying south and a real nice surprise was a Wilson's Snipe which flew along just out over the lake at eye level. Bird number 193 for Rosetta McClain Gardens! Only about 10 Monarch butterflies were seen today.

Pretty Kitties

Several folks out enjoying the day: Ann, Theresa, Gunnar, Norm, Irv, Mike 2, Pat, Nancy, Mike, Leslie, Mike 3, Barb, Ken, Tony, Pat 2, Carol, and Felicity. Thanks again everyone for the help!

Walter