Sep 13th - The Skies Cleared, The Birds Came!

When I arrived at the park at roughly 12:30PM, the rain had stopped and the songbirds were everywhere.  Bruce and Phil had a list a mile long of new species for me to add to our fall Species List.  Flycatchers, Vireos, Kinglets and Warblers had all 'fallen' out of the sky due to the early morning rain.  What excitement!  We eventually made it down to the Watch and got ready for the big birds.  Slowly the clouds gave way to blue skies and the wind shifted to blowing from the northwest.  The hawks didn't take long to make up their minds and take advantage of the 'perfect' flying conditions.  It turned out to be a great half-day of hawk watching.

Today:
Osprey - 7
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 119
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 4
Merlin - 3
Total - 142

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 0
Osprey - 86
Bald Eagle - 37
Northern Harrier - 32
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 834
Cooper's Hawk - 13
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 148
Red-tailed Hawk - 20
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 138
Merlin - 41
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 1352

Eagle Time (EDT):
02:41 PM - BE x2 (imm)

Here are a couple of quick shots that Arvo got of this Bald Eagle which snuck-up on us from behind.

Aside from PasserineFest going on in the park we had a Red-headed Woodpecker fly overhead at treetop level heading west as well as a small group of Purple Finches.

Monarchs continued to move through the area today with somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 being seen.

Many thanks to those gathered today including - Bruce, Phil, Justin, Arvo, Eleanor, Trudy, Mark, Leon, MC, Betty, Sarah B, Sarah, John, Margaret, and Lee.  All your help spotting and identifying put us over the '100 Bird' count once again!

At last check winds will be from the NE in the morning but will switch around to SE somewhere about mid-day.

Walter