Record Breaking Day...Onward to 7000!

 Today we got what we had hoped for a post storm big day. We tallied 156 raptors, which brought us well over our previous seasons best of 6626 to 6663 and counting. Thanks to everyone(names to be added later) for your contributions to a great day. Ive been sent many great photos to chose from.
  We had 5 Golden Eagles today with great views of 4 of the 5. One of the Golden Eagles started well out over the lake. It was being attacked by 2 what we thought to be gulls, but on reflection its entirely possible they were Jaegers. I have no way to prove that, so lets just say it was a very interesting sighting.  I was able to get several good shots of the Golden Eagles today.

  There were a few what appeared to us to be oddly coloured Redtailed Hawks, maybe it was just the lighting? Paul Reeves got this shot of one of the Redtailed Hawks like this.

  Lee got a nice shot of a Merlin as it left its perch. My shot shows it perched. I recorded that as our local.

 We had 5 Northern Goshawks with one that seems to be staying as it made at least 4 or 5 passes of the park at very close range. A real surprise came at 455pm when an Osprey flew past along their typical close route. A smattering of Red-shouldered Hawks as well as Turkey Vultures and Sharpshinned Hawks kept things interesting.
Our total included:
4-Turkey Vultures
1-Osprey
5-Northern Harriers
8-Sharpshinned Hawks
6-Coopers Hawks
5-Northern Goshawks
6-Red-shouldered Hawks
116-Redtailed Hawks
5-Golden Eagles (11:30am, 11:36am, 11:44am, 1:44pm, 4:35pm)
156-Total Raptors

A good set of comparison photos were submitted today. Paul got a nice shot of  a Sharpshinned Hawk. Lee provided the Northern Goshawk photo. Note the shape of the tails, where the eyes are in the head of the Sharpie and markings on the Goshawk(completely covering the body and right to its chin, and strong and dark). And just how thick the Goshawk is!

Sharpie above

 

 

Northern Goshawk above

   Paul sent along this shot of a passing flock of Evening Grosbeaks. I took the liberty of cropping it abit to show them closer up in the 2nd photo.

Also today we had a great day for passerines. Early in the morning, many thousands of Robins, mixed flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds, Cowbirds and Grackles, some Eastern Bluebirds, Pine Siskins and White-winged Crossbills filled the sky over Rosetta. Our best birds of the day were at least 100 Evening Grosbeaks. Towards the end of the night a small group of about 5-10 landed in a Maple Tree along the main path briefly. Pine Siskins and White-winged Crossbills also landed in the park. Flying over the park were several Common Loons and 20+ Red-throated Loons, a Northern Shrike, a Red-headed Woodpecker and a Pileated Woodpecker. In all an incredible day!!
  Thanks to Terry 2,Ron, Bruce 4, Mike 3, Paul, Nellie, Patty,Norm, Murray, Arvo,Phil, Hugh, Lee, Bill2 , Mark and Carol our pizza delivery girl ;-) thanks Carol, you warmed our hands and bellies.

Tomorrow looks like another great day for migration. Dress very warm!! Bathrooms MAY be open. I expect we will see large movements of small birds in the morning and also an upflight of raptors which overnighted near by. Things will probably take awhile to get going otherwise so if you cant hack the cold, I suggest 10am or even 1030 am as a start time for you. Hope to see you there!