Nov 2nd - Another Excellent Day!

Although there were no eagles or roughies to be had today, it turned out to be another excellent day all the same.  The all-blue sky made things challenging again but with so many great pairs of eyes, I don't think much got by us.  Although it can never be proven that they're all the same birds, we only missed 2 of the 170 Red-tailed Hawks that Cranberry Marsh counted. - LOL.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 29
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 10
Red-tailed Hawk - 168
Merlin - 1
Total - 216

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3301
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 104
Northern Harrier - 258
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3695
Cooper's Hawk - 108
Northern Goshawk - 16
Red-shouldered Hawk - 73
Broad-winged Hawk - 1418
Red-tailed Hawk - 855
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 7
American Kestrel - 697
Merlin - 127
Peregrine Falcon - 79
Total - 10884

Wonderful photos by wonderful people...

Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

a beautifully marked young Red-tail (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Ann)

Today's non-raptor sightings included an unknown bird that was flying low out over the water having a real go with a couple of gulls.  The chasing seemed to be about 50/50 between the two species.  The only things that were noted about the mystery bird were that it was smaller than the gulls and that it was brown on the upperside and very light-coloured on the underside.  Another interesting sighting was of a pair of Snow Buntings that a few of us heard and saw before they quickly disappeared.

Today's crowd included Trudy, Phil, Mark, Ron, Bruce, Mike D, Peter, Pat & Nancy, Ann, Matt, Lee, Ann, Dave, Arvo, Rosemary, Gary & Wei Li, Betty, Joyce, Mike & Leslie, Hugh, Berle, Tim, Gunnar, Sue, John, Cori and whoever I missed.  I thank you all for your help and friendship.

Here's a great photo of just some of the folks gathered today...

(Ann)

Walter