September 13th - 531 Birds!

Wow, what a fabulous day of hawk watching!  The action started shortly after I arrived at 7:00 AM.  Sharpies and Kestrels came through in decent numbers and so did Osprey, Eagles, and Harriers.  It was lots of fun trying to mark down the numbers as everyone was busy calling out the birds.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 3
Osprey - 19
Bald Eagle - 11
Northern Harrier - 20
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 307
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 9
Red-Tailed Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 154
Merlin - 4
Total - 531

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 20
Osprey - 75
Bald Eagle - 51
Northern Harrier - 32
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 732
Cooper's Hawk - 8
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 66
Red-tailed Hawk - 39
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 239
Merlin - 18
Peregrine Falcon - 4
Total - 1284

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:05 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
10:05 AM - BE adult
10:10 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
10:25 AM - BE adult
11:10 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
11:25 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
11:25 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
11:27 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
11:46 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
01:29 PM - BE adult
01:33 PM - BE immature (non-adult)

Our first record has been broken!  Our new 'Month' record for Bald Eagles now stands at 45!  Back in Sept 2010 we had counted 43.  This is only the 13th of the month!  Our 'Year' record is 73.  Can we break it?

These photos are courtesy of Paul Reeves...

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Northern Harrier

And these are courtesy of Ann Brokelman...

Bald Eagle

Red-tailed Hawk

 

Several new species of birds were added to our list today including: Black-and-white Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Blue-headed Vireo and Black-throated Blue Warbler.  23 Loons were counted flying over the park and 26 Monarch butterflies were also tallied.

 

Lots of people were at the Watch today, in fact I lost track.  Thankyou everyone!

 

Walter