Sep 7th - Sharpie, Sharpie, Kestrel, Sharpie!

Another good day of raptor migration over Rosetta!  Today, the bird of the day was the Sharp-shinned Hawk, also referred to as a 'Sharpie' and/or 'Shin' at most hawk watches.  A few times today we had as many as 7 passing overhead at one time.  Many came in pairs and were interacting with one another along the way.  Sometimes the interactions were between Sharpies and American Kestrels.  The flight today for most birds was directly overhead and just slightly higher than the tree tops.  This provided everyone gathered some fabulous views and great photo ops.

Today:
Osprey - 4
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 193
Broad-winged Hawk - 6
American Kestrel - 32
Merlin - 3
Total - 242

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 4
Osprey - 28
Bald Eagle - 14
Northern Harrier - 7
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 300
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 15
Red-tailed Hawk - 6
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 108
Merlin - 25
Peregrine Falcon - 5
Total - 516

Eagle Time (DST):
1:18pm - BE (adult)

Here are a couple of photos courtesy of Paul...

American Kestrel

Sharp-shinned Hawk

...and here are a couple courtesy of Lee...

Merlin

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Merlin

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

(notice the full crop!)

Sharp-shinned Hawk

adult Bald Eagle

Birds:

Cedar Waxwing - several small flocks moving over the park

Butterflies:

Monarch - 19 moving, 1 tagged

Mammals:

Nothing of note

Hawk Watchers:

Phil, Lorne, Sheldon, Paul, Allison, Mike & Leslie, Richard, Hugh, Betty, Bruce, Pat & Nancy, Berle, Dave, Mark, Lee, Peter, Glen, Eleanor, and several others.  Thankyou for a most enjoyable day!

Weather Prediction:

Sep 8th - risk of a thunderstorm, SE 5-10km/h (theweathernetwork.com)

Bring your rain gear!

Walter