Nov 7th - 11,000th Raptor Counted!!!

Amazing!  Who would've ever imagined counting 11,000 birds of prey during a single season at our little hawkwatch?  Certainly not me!  I cannot stress enough how grateful I am for all your help spotting, photographing and identifying hawks as they've passed overhead.  The high count this fall is a true testament to all of your hard work.  Today was yet another one of those somewhat difficult days with heavy cloud-cover making many distant birds appear very dark through both binoculars and cameras.

Highlights today included sightings of both eagle species, a few Red-shouldereds, a couple of Goshawks and a couple of Roughies.  We ended-up seeing 12 of the 15 regularly seen species.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 80
Rough-legged Hawk - 2
Golden Eagle - 2
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 114

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3303
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 105
Northern Harrier - 266
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3703
Cooper's Hawk - 111
Northern Goshawk - 18
Red-shouldered Hawk - 79
Broad-winged Hawk - 1418
Red-tailed Hawk - 935
Rough-legged Hawk - 7
Golden Eagle - 9
American Kestrel - 697
Merlin - 128
Peregrine Falcon - 80
Total - 11000

Eagle Time (EST):
12:16 PM - GE
01:30 PM - GE
01:53 PM - BE

Another wonderful collection of photos...

(Mike D)

(Ann)

(Mike D)

(Mike D)

(Mike D)

(Mike D)

the above 7 photos are of Red-tailed Hawks (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Ann)

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

a high-flying and distant juvenile Golden Eagle (Mike D)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

another adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a light morph Rough-legged Hawk (Mike D)

Some of today's non-raptor highlights included - Hermit Thrushes, Fox Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, an Eastern Phoebe and 31 migrating Loons.

migrating Cedar Waxwings (Mike D)

a friendly Eastern Phoebe (Mike D)

Here's a great photo of most of today's motley crew...

(Ann)

A huge thankyou to Mike D, Kris, Terry, Don, Berle, Peter, Betty, Pat & Nancy, Lee, Ron, Matt, Manny, Ann, John, Howie, Lynn, Trudy and anyone I missed.

Saturday's forecast for light rain all day will likely keep me away from the park.

Walter

Nov 3rd thru 6th - Quiet Time!

Not much to report over the last four days from the Hawk Watch, inclement weather and lack of N element winds are to blame.  Tomorrow's NW wind should bring joy and happiness to us all.....please remember, I said "should".  You just never know at this time of the season.

Nov 3rd:
Cooper's Hawk - 1

Nov 5th:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3301
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 104
Northern Harrier - 258
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3696
Cooper's Hawk - 109
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 - 10886

We now need only 114 birds to reach the '11000 Raptors Counted' mark.  Hopefully tomorrow we'll see that number reached with a good steady stream of Red-tails.

As mentioned, NW wind on Friday!  Fingers crossed!

Walter

Rosetta McClain Gardens Video

Our friend Andre Tardif has completed his short movie on Rosetta McClain Gardens.  If you remember the 'preview' post that I did back in early October, I mentioned that it was filmed with high-definition Go Pro camera that was attached to a drone, or quadcopter.  It's a beautiful piece of work that covers the best of the park.  Please find the video in the right-hand column of this blog or go directly to the YouTube page.  Best viewed in full screen.  Thankyou Andre!

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