Sep 22nd - 885 Birds, No Kettles!

Wow, what a day, almost nine hundred birds and without large kettles of Broad-wings or Vultures!  Without a doubt our busiest day ever!  My thanks to everyone for spotting, calling out, identifying and photographing everything that came our way.  That was not easy at all!  As I type this, my neck is being treated with pills, ointment and a heating pad!  Oh well, it was worth it!

As of today, September 22nd, we have already broken our highest 'month' count ever.  The old record was 3506 birds counted (Oct 2011), our current total stands at 3832 birds with several days left to add to that.  So far this fall we've had our best August ever and our best September ever!  Still lots of time and lots of birdies yet to come!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 11
Osprey - 6
Bald Eagle - 9
Northern Harrier - 26
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 560  (10 short of a new record!.....we tried!)
Cooper's Hawk - 8
Broad-winged Hawk - 106
Red-tailed Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 149
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 885

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 113
Osprey - 121
Bald Eagle - 67
Northern Harrier - 74
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1873
Cooper's Hawk - 26
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 1400
Red-tailed Hawk - 28
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 353
Merlin - 65
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Total - 4129

Eagle Time (EDT):
08:20 AM - BE
09:33 AM - BE
10:03 AM - BE
10:42 AM - BE
12:19 PM - BE
02:15 PM - BE x2
02:25 PM - BE
03:30 PM - BE

Some of today's crowd (Ann)

a young Northern Harrier (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

Broad-winged Hawk (Ann)

a low-flying Bald Eagle (Ann)

One of many Sharpies that landed in the park today.  (Ann)

Broad-winged Hawk (Ann)

a female American Kestrel (Ann)

a male American Kestrel (Mike D)

an incoming Sharpie (Mike D)

Broad-winged Hawk (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

another Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

a Sharpie diving down (Mike D)

another beautiful American Kestrel (Mike D)

Today's best non-raptor sighting was a lone Sandhill Crane that was flying out over the water.  Another 35 Loons were tallied overhead and as predicted in Ron Pittaway's 2014/2015 Winter Finch Report, Blue Jays are on the move out of the province.  Today we watched as a couple of thousand flew over the park.  Always a spectacular event.

a very distant Sandhill Crane (Walter)

Another 157 Monarch butterflies were counted flying westward along the bluffs.

Again, my thanks to everyone who was at the Watch today.  Your help and friendship is very much appreciated.

Moderate wind from the west is predicted for Tuesday.

Walter