Wind (current)

Sep 23rd - Another Good Count

Today I thought I'd go down to the park and see if there were any stragglers left from yesterday's big count.  Sure enough shortly after arriving at 8:00AM the birds started flying-by one after another.  The thing was that that trend continued all morning and in to the afternoon with few breaks in-between.  Mostly Sharpies but also a few others added in for colour.  Today we had another good showing of Harriers with 15 being counted.  In the morning Jays and Goldfinches were moving through in decent numbers.

An Osprey is added in to today's count but was not seen today.  It was reported to me by a reliable source.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 133
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 4
Merlin - 4
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 162

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 114
Osprey - 122
Bald Eagle - 67
Northern Harrier - 89
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2006
Cooper's Hawk - 27
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 1402
Red-tailed Hawk - 28
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 357
Merlin - 69
Peregrine Falcon - 10
Total - 4291

As usual, the Royal Rosetta Air Force (our local Red-tailed Hawks) put on another spectacular display this afternoon.  Today it got personal again as one of them came right down in-between our feet and went after a squirrel that was begging for peanuts.  Poor ol' Terry lost his hair over the incident!

Sitting on top of the 'Spooky' Tree (Walter)

We counted another 103 Monarch butterflies today.  With a few warm days coming, it will be interesting to see if there's an increase in the number moving along the bluffs.

With me today were - Trudy, Allison, Berle, Don, Theresa, Rick, Terry, Betty, Brian, Arvo, Ron, Hugh, Carol, Krista, Lee, and Pat & Nancy.  Sorry if I missed anyone.

Light E wind is predicted for tomorrow so I'm going to take a much needed break to rest my aching neck.  If you are at the park and something good comes your way, please let me know as soon as you can.  Thanks!

See you Thursday!

Walter

4 comments:

Rob said...

Hi Walter, I hope to see you and the gang soon. I'm off this week but just returned from a couple days over Pelee way, with one morning at the tip, and a full day at Holiday Beach. Tonnes of Sharpies and Blue Jays. We had a few straggling Broad-wings which was cool. Harriers was a nice surprise for me. And quite a few Eagles although I may have been counting the residents more than once. The Blue Jay total was over 2,500 on Monday.


But ya, hoping to visit you and the park very soon.

Rob/Angie

Walter Fisher said...

Hey Rob, The Blue Jay total was easily that at Rosetta as well on Monday. They're on the move! See you both real soon, Walter

Dan said...

Out here in Prince Edward County the Turkey Vultures are just starting to gather. Blue Jay movement is intense, stopping by in great numbers and moving westerly. Monarch butterfly movement has slowed, but the numbers were high over the past few weeks.

Dan/Danny/Daniel :)

Walter Fisher said...

Hey Daniel, Great to hear from you. Thanks for the update from the County. Looking forward to those Turkey Vultures! Walter