Just like the weather people predicted - rain starting around 2:00 PM! Before that, we did manage to see a few birds in the late morning including 4 Peregrine Falcons and a couple of Cooper's Hawks. Also of note was a Red-tail that flew along the bluffs, it appeared to have an extremely light belly band.
Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 4
Peregrine Falcon - 4
Total - 17
To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 115
Osprey - 126
Bald Eagle - 67
Northern Harrier - 97
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2098
Cooper's Hawk - 37
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 1403
Red-tailed Hawk - 29
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 394
Merlin - 76
Peregrine Falcon - 20
Total - 4462
During our time today we counted another 6 Monarchs. I think it's safe to say that we've seen the bulk of their migration for this year. Should be a few stragglers tho!
The weekend forecast calls for periods of rain, cloud, sun, and a whole lot of SW wind. If I may quote from The Hawk Cliff Foundation's publication A Field Guide To The Migrating Raptors of Hawk Cliff (ISBN 0-9733947-0-6) - "If you want to see Peregrine Falcons make sure to choose a day with very strong, even gale force southwest winds. Such winds strike the cliff face and are pushed upward, creating great lift (updrafts) along the cliff edge. Many falcons, eagles and Osprey take advantage of this lift to migrate effortlessly westward along the lakeshore." This statement also holds true for our Rosetta hawk watch as our position at the lake is very similar to that at Hawk Cliff near Port Stanley, albeit different bodies of water. Hopefully the birds read the same page!!!
Walter
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