October 5th - Overcast Day With Little Movement

There was an ENE element to the wind this morning which gave us hope but that was quickly dashed when the wind started blowing in from out over the lake.  Most birds that we saw were flying fairly high up and were nothing more than silhouettes.  The three Falcon species were quite tough to ID today without photos.  My thanks to Mike Dizonno for snapping shots of them as they flew by.  One nice highlight was seeing 3 Northern Harriers flying along together across the sky.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 20

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 668
Osprey - 112
Bald Eagle - 93
Northern Harrier - 77
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1239
Cooper's Hawk - 26
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 67
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 454
Merlin - 37
Peregrine Falcon - 25
Total - 2937

These photos were taken by Mike Dizonno...

Osprey

Northern Harriers

Cooper's Hawk

Turkey Vulture

American Kestrel

This morning we witnessed several small flocks of Mergansers flying down from the north as well as 5 more Loons.  A big surprise today especially with the lousy overcast conditions was the Monarch migration.  Another 44 'Butterhawks' were counted.

Movers and shakers today included, Lorne, Bob, Mike 3, Manny, Carol, Bruce, Peter, John, and Sheldon.  Thanks for all your help, not an easy day.

Walter