Aug 11th - Making Up For Lost Time!

Well, after several days of not seeing any raptor movement over Rosetta, we made up for lost time today.  With northwest wind predicted for the day, I headed to the park early and was surprised to find Kris already there.  She knew!  Somewhere about 10:30am the birds started to fly over.  First two, then another, then another, then a couple more!  It was interesting to note that they were all Kestrels at first.  That might have been due to the fact that there were so many dragonflies in the air - the Kestrels favourite in-flight snack!  It wasn't long after that that we had our first 2 Bald Eagles of the season.  They slowly circled and rose up high out over the lake before continuing their flight westward.  After the initial flurry things slowed down somewhat and the bird sightings were a little less frequent but still just as exciting - a pair of Broad-winged Hawks, a couple of Turkey Vultures, more Kestrels, and more Eagles!  Oh what fun!!!  Welcome to the RMGRW 2015!!!  HOV lanes coming soon!!!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Bald Eagle - 5
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 13
Total - 22

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 0
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 0
Cooper's Hawk - 0
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 0
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
Amercian Kestrel - 13
Merlin - 0
Peregrine Falcon - 0
Total - 22

Eagle Time (DST):
11:00am - BE x2 (imm)
12:45pm - BE (imm)
01:20pm - BE x2 (imm)

Here are a few photos from today...

One of our first Kestrels (Kris)

Our first Eagle! (Walter)

Number three Eagle (Kris)

Our last Kestrel (Lee)

Birds:
Cedar Waxwing - many small flocks flying east and west
Cooper's Hawk - 1 local
Great Egret - 1 over the north end, heading east
Merlin - 1 over the park heading west, returned later
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 locals

Butterflies:
Monarch - 4-5
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - 2

Mammals:
American Red Squirrel - 1

Here are a couple of great shots courtesy of Lee...

Hawk Watchers:
Kris, Pat & Nancy, Allison, Phil, Betty, Lee, and several others who stopped by to say 'hi'.  Thankyou!

Weather Prediction:
Aug 12th - partly cloudy, NW 20-25km/h and gusting (theweathernetwork.com)

See you at the park!
Walter