Sep 13th - OMG, What a Day!

As most of you know, I personally have been watching migrating hawks at the park since 2008 - never have I seen a day like today!  I'm sure none of the other regulars at Rosetta had either.  Just the strangest thing.  I know weather plays a huge part in bird migration but today was impossible to figure out.  Although I haven't checked, my best guess would be that there was rain somewhere to the west of the park.

We all gathered this morning expecting a really good flight of raptors as wind was blowing strong from the NW (or maybe even WNW) and cloud cover, although not perfect, was 100% and not really threatening with rain.  With the thoughts of a 'big day', we anticipated hawks to start flying overhead early, even songbirds - that didn't happen.  We stood and watched and eventually were excited to see our first birds of the day, a pair of Harriers.  We thought that it was all about to start - unfortunately, that didn't happen either.

The following is a bird-by-bird account of what did happen today...

Osprey
1 flying west
1 flying west

Bald Eagle
1 flying east - briefly landed in a tree on the east side of the park.

Northern Harrier
2 flying west
3 flying east
3 flying west
3 flying east
2 flying west
2 flying east
2 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying east
2 flying east
1 flying east
2 flying east
2 flying west

Sharp-shinned Hawk
2 flying east
3 flying east
1 flying east
3 flying east
2 flying east
1 flying west
2 flying east
1 flying west
1 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying west
1 flying east
1 flying east
1 flying west and then back east again

Merlin
1 flying east
1 flying west

Peregrine Falcon
1 flying west

I'll be watching for all the birds that flew east today early tomorrow morning although it'll be impossible to tell if they're the same birds.  LOL!

So this is what we ended up with...

Today:
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 2
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 6

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 4
Osprey - 50
Bald Eagle - 18
Northern Harrier - 35
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 566
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 87
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 190
Merlin - 32
Peregrine Falcon - 8
Total - 1005

a passing Northern Harrier (Kevin)

juvenile Bald Eagle (Elias)

and same eagle (Mike)

Birds:
Common Loon - 15 flying south over the park and out over the lake
Great Blue Heron - 7 flying east over the lake
Red-tailed Hawk - local, flying east
Shorebird (unknown species) - yet another!, flying out over the lake

Butterflies:
Monarch - 12 trying their best to fly westward

Mammals:
Nothing of note

Hawk Watchers:
Phil, Betty, Mike, Mark, Allison, Dave, Pat & Nancy, Elias, Carol, Ron & Jean, Bruce, Kevin, Arvo, Berle, Bruce & Ann, Lee, Cori, and a few others.  Thankyou everyone for your help watching in both directions today!

Weather Prediction:
Sep 14th - mainly sunny, W 20km/h and gusting (theweathernetwork.com)

See you,
Walter