Sep 6th - The Storm

I had titled yesterday's post 'A Calm Before The Storm?'  We got our storm!  Today we counted a total of 244 raptors flying over Rosetta.  The day didn't look too promising at first with a heavy sky, rain and no wind but eventually it all changed just like the weather people predicted.  One for them!  My thanks to everyone for their help in spotting, identifying, and photographing everything that was zooming by.

Today:
Osprey - 15
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 171
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 5
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 34
Merlin - 11
Total - 244

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 0
Osprey - 55
Bald Eagle - 15
Northern Harrier - 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 398
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 87
Red-tailed Hawk - 13
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 104
Merlin - 26
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Total - 728

Eagle Time (EDT):
01:25 PM - BE
02:16 PM - BE
02:30 PM - BE
02:44 PM - BE

Local Raptors:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2

Raptor shots from the day...

 Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

 American Kestrel (Mike D)

 Sharp-shinned Hawk (Paul)

 Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Merlin (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

 Broad-winged Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

Osprey (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

At 5:30 PM as we were getting set to leave a Common Nighthawk flew over the center of the park fairly low.  Always exciting to see!  Early in the day today we counted at least 9 Common Loons flying overhead and out over the lake.  Canada Geese in small numbers also appeared to be on the move.

Hawk watching became rather interesting in to the afternoon as the sky quickly filled with thousands of migrating dragonflies of various species and at best guess, at least 1000 Monarch butterflies.  Absolutely beautiful to witness but not while you're trying to find hawks!

These two have some business to take care of before heading south (Paul)

Common Loon (Ann)

Great Blue Heron (Ann)

Some of today's crowd (Ann)

The gang today included - Kris, Phil, John, Mike D, Ann, Mark, Sheldon, Gunnar, Mike P, Pat & Nancy, Dave, Norm, Irv, Allison, Hugh, Ron & Jean, Paul, Brian, Elias & Grace, Doug, Berle, Will, and Byron.  My apologies if I've forgotten anyone.

The predicted winds for Sunday are still from the northwest but not quite as strong.  Let's see what happens.

Check you tomorrow!

Walter