Oct 19th - Oh My!

What a day we had!  So many birds, so many people!  Although a good number of birds were flying way up today, we had great cloud cover which helped us to find and see everything that was moving over the park.  My thanks to the wonderful group of folks that gathered to help out and enjoy the birds.  This is turning out to be one very special year.  Hopefully there'll still be a few birds left to come in November.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 242
Bald Eagle - 3
Northern Harrier - 18
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 314
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 4
Red-shouldered Hawk - 33
Red-tailed Hawk - 93
American Kestrel - 24
Merlin - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total -746

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2665
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 225
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3576
Cooper's Hawk - 88
Northern Goshawk - 7
Red-shouldered Hawk - 46
Broad-winged Hawk - 1417
Red-tailed Hawk - 190
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 693
Merlin - 123
Peregrine Falcon - 76
Total - 9337

Eagle Time (EDT):
09:30 AM - BE
01:14 PM - BE x2

There were nearly 50 photos submitted for today's post...here are some of the more spectacular.

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

a young Red-tailed Hawk (Lee)

 Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Ann)

American Kestrel (Lee)

Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Bald Eagle and a Sharpie (Lee)

an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk with a nicely squared-off tail (Ann)

Again today after the migration had died down, the local Red-tailed Hawks moved into the area and put on another lovely display.  Today they really showed us how well they can 'kite' even in gusting wind.  They are amazing birds!

Non-raptor sightings today included - 31 Loons flying overhead, some in loose groups.  Many songbirds and geese on the move early in the day.  At least one flock of Canada Geese had a couple of Cackling Geese mixed in.

Cackling Geese - numbers 3 and 7 on the right-hand side (Kris)

Blue Jays are still flying over the park but in much smaller numbers now (Lee)

Only 5 brave Monarchs on the move today.

As mentioned above, my sincere thanks to everyone who came out today to enjoy the birds.  Your help in finding and identifying all those high-flyers is truly appreciated.  We would have missed countless birds if you weren't a part of the action.

Periods of rain over the next two days but there still appears to be days with NW wind coming up.

Walter