November 19th - 50,000 Raptors Counted!!!

With good NW wind blowing all day today it was only a matter of time before our 50,000th raptor of all-time flew overhead.  At 1:40 PM this afternoon it happened as a beautiful adult Red-tailed Hawk appeared in the sky above us.  I found it to be really fitting as the Red-tailed Hawk is what the area is known to be the home of.  Local 'Tails' have always put on spectacular displays at the Watch over the years, as everyone knows.

My thanks to everyone involved over the years and especially to our friend Frank.  As I had mentioned about a month ago in the blog, Frank spoke with great passion and excitement knowing that this unimagined figure was in sight.  What a milestone for his little hawk watch in the park he affectionately called his backyard!

The 50,000th raptor counted at Rosetta!

(with Ann)

(with Phil)

 

How we got there:

Turkey Vulture - 11452

Osprey - 1059
Bald Eagle - 500
Northern Harrier - 2190
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 18746
Cooper's Hawk - 891
Northern Goshawk - 156
Red-shouldered Hawk - 237
Broad-winged Hawk - 2084
Red-tailed Hawk - 6526
Rough-legged Hawk - 91
Golden Eagle - 88
American Kestrel - 4772
Merlin - 610
Peregrine Falcon - 598
Total - 50000

At the end of the day as I was putting everything in to my backpack I looked up just in time to see a young Peregrine Falcon fly by just out over the bluffs!  Nice way to cap-off the day!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 46
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 74

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1664
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 108
Northern Harrier - 133
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1604
Cooper's Hawk - 50
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 22
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 634
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 7
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 63
Peregrine Falcon - 54
Total - 5086

Eagle Time (EST):
11:11 AM - BE immature (non-adult)

Here are some photos from the day courtesy of Ann...

A young Bald Eagle high up

An adult Red-shouldered Hawk

A young Sharp-shinned Hawk

Another adult Red-shouldered Hawk

A dark Red-tailed Hawk

An adult Sharp-shinned Hawk

Other sightings today included; 4 Loons flying south, a few small flocks of Snow Buntings heading westward as well as a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds, an American Tree Sparrow and 3 Tundra Swans out over the lake.  My thanks to Terry for getting his scope on the swans for identification.

Eastern Bluebird

Pretty Kitty

 

Taking part in today's excitement were; Kris, Ron, Theresa, Ann, Peter, Hugh, Carol, Terry, Tim, Bruce, Berle, Jim & Petra, Phil, and Bill.  My apologies if I missed writing anyone's name down today as it was a strange day for me personally - was lacking lots of sleep!  I'm okay now though as you can probably guess by this late post!  Thankyou Marion for the coffee!  I'd like to thank everyone for another fun-filled day at the park.  And again, Happy Birthday Ann.  We couldn't have celebrated your birthday on a better day!  Birthday muffins were provided by Theresa.

Terry was in it for the long haul today!  Thank goodness number

50,000 came this afternoon or Terry might have stayed the night!

See you all on the next good wind day!

Walter