Oct 8th - The Wind Did Not Really Happen!

The early morning NE 20km/h wind died-off earlier then predicted.  The ENE wind may have been still there though, as we saw a number of birds generally quite high up.  Eventually the wind switched to the SE and then straight from the E.  The bird numbers quickly diminished until there were none!  We all vacated the Watch at 1:30pm.

Today:
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 11
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 4
Merlin - 4
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 27

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 248
Osprey - 91
Bald Eagle - 55
Northern Harrier - 120
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2089
Cooper's Hawk - 18
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 88
Red-tailed Hawk - 23
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 277
Merlin - 84
Peregrine Falcon - 28
Total - 3124

Today we were fortunate to have 2 very distinguished guests at the Watch, Dr. Bruce Falls (University of Toronto) and Dr. Fred Cooke (Queen's University and Simon Fraser University in BC).  Both Bruce and Fred are emeritus professors of ornithology and are known world-wide for their contributions to the scientific study of birds.  They are both keen birders and listers as well.

Dr. Fred Cooke (left) and Dr. Bruce Falls (right) (Jean Iron)

It's also not too bad when you have the infinite ornithological knowledge of Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway at your Hawk Watch as well!  A big thankyou to all 4 of you for being there today.

Other Birds:

Common Loon - 7 counted migrating over the park

Northern Pintail - Jean observed this duck flying over the east side of the park (a new for the park bird, species #208)

Red-tailed Hawk - the 2 local birds (known as The Rosetta Air Force) put on another fabulous display of aerial acrobatics

Butterflies:

Monarch - 17 migrating through the park

Dr. Fred Cooke and his wife Sylvia (standing behind Fred) (on the left)
and Dr. Bruce Falls and his wife Ann (on the right) all look on as
Terry (in the middle) tags a Monarch butterfly. (Cori)

Mammals:

Nothing of note

Hawk Watchers:

Cori, Dave, Sheldon, Norm, Freida, Irving, Lyn, Arvo, Hugh, Terry, Ron & Jean, Trudy, Bruce and Ann Falls, Fred and Sylvia Cooke (visiting us from England), Berle, Carol, MC, Ed, Betty, Ann B, and several others who stopped by.  Thankyou everyone!

Weather Prediction:

Oct 9th - Chance of a shower, ending at 8:00am in the morning, W 20km/h and gusting to 42km/h switching to a mix of sun and clouds, NW 35km/h and gusting to 53km/h in the afternoon.  (theweathernetwork.com)  OMG, let's all hope the afternoon forecast holds true!  As I mentioned yesterday in this the Weather Prediction section, it's likely that the wind between 10:00 and 11:00am, possibly even as early as 9:00am will switch to WNW at some point during those hours.  That should get the birds up and moving.

Hope to see you there,
Walter