Oct 30th - Pepper Specks Across the Sky!

The wind at ground level may have been blowing from the northwest today but it sure as heck wasn't very strong, higher up the clouds seemed to be moving fairly well tho.  The flight today was for the most part extremely high up making the birds appear like pepper specks.  Hawkwatchers gathered today did a great job in finding, pointing out, and identifying everything they could.  Thankyou to all.

Today:
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Red-tailed Hawk - 64
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1
Total - 86

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2704  (1461)
Osprey - 93  (110)
Bald Eagle - 69  (57)
Northern Harrier - 192  (244)
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2724  (2191)
Cooper's Hawk - 48  (95)
Northern Goshawk - 5  (18)
Red-shouldered Hawk - 39  (25)
Broad-winged Hawk - 89  (216)
Red-tailed Hawk - 454  (757)
Rough-legged Hawk - 2  (10)
Golden Eagle - 6  (10)
American Kestrel - 302  (561)
Merlin - 111  (72)
Peregrine Falcon - 57  (68)
Total - 6895  (5963)

The numbers in red are our seasonal averages - 2006 thru 2014.

Eagle Time (DST):
03:17pm - BE (juvenile)

Photos are courtesy of Lee...

Oh my!!!

 Northern Harrier (left), Bald Eagle (right)

...and from me...

Osprey (our 2nd latest ever!)

Other Birds:

American Tree Sparrow - 1 along the edge of the bluffs

Common Loon - 6 heading south

Hooded Merganser - 6 out on the lake

Red-breasted Merganser - a few thousand moving low over the lake, most of them heading west

Butterflies:

none

Mammals:

Eastern Cottontail - 1

Eastern Gray Squirrel - 1 little bugger that stole my Halloween candy that I dropped on the ground for literally 2 seconds!

Hawkwatchers:

Lee, Gunnar, Ron, Kris, Rosemary, Dave S, Peter, Betty, Bruce & Ann Falls, Sheridan, Berle, Dave & Mary Beth, Jean, Lynn, Arvo, Bruce F, Vickie and Diana, and a few others who stopped by.  Thanks again everyone for a fun-filled day.

Weather Prediction:

Oct 31st - a mix of sun and clouds switching to mostly cloudy, SW 10km/h switching to S 15km/h  (theweathernetwork.com)

Walter