Sep 16th - Another Bald Eagle!

Thankyou to those who visited and reported from the hawk watch after I left at 2:00pm.  Sometimes life gets in the way of fun.  The day was a little slow with wrong wind and all blue sky but it was enjoyable being there nonetheless.

Today:
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 1
Total - 9

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 34
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 49
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 431
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 143

Merlin - 30

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1058

Merlin (Lee)

One of possibly 3 local Red-tailed Hawks (Lee)

The attacking Jays might've got this Merlin's tail feather! (Lee)

 

 The Jays did not take to kindly to this Merlin hanging around their park (Lee)

 Merlin (Lee)

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - A good number were on the move migrating today

Butterflies:

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - 30 (12 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

Mammals:

Raccoon - 7

People:

Lee, Trudy, Terry, Betty, Manny, Berle, Tim, Jessica L (from Quest Nature Tours), Bruce G (visiting for Sudbury).  At the time of writing, it's Saturday afternoon, so I apologize to anyone I may have forgotten.

Weather Prediction:

All-day rain for Saturday!

Walter

Sep 15th - Wind Makes All the Difference!

Today:
Osprey - 3
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Merlin - 5
Total - 12

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 34
Bald Eagle - 62
Northern Harrier - 49
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 426
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 233
Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 141

Merlin - 29

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1049

Other Birds:

Brown Creeper - a few

Warbler sp - a few

Bugs:

Monarch - 38 (5 tagged)

A female Yellow Garden Spider (Walter)

People:

Hugh, Betty, Bruce Falls and family, Arvo, Norm, Irv, Linda, Kevin, Berle, Dave, Monika, Terry, plus several others.

Weather Prediction:

Mostly E and SE wind for Friday.  Not very good for migration!

Walter

Sep 14th - A Late-day Push of Eagles

A dark overcast threatening sky made for a slow start to today's hawk watch but once things finally got underway all was grand!  Today's flight basically was from far over Kingston Road to way out over the lake, birds were flying everywhere...and many were high up!  A nice finishing touch to the day was when we counted 8 Bald Eagles in the span of 37 minutes.  They crossed the sky high up above the center of the park flying along an invisible line like Red-tailed Hawks usually do later in the season.  Always spectacular to see!

I said to Hugh early this morning that my prediction for the day was that we'd see 350 birds, we missed it by 4 birds!  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 13
Osprey - 7
Bald Eagle - 10
Northern Harrier - 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 177
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 56
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
American Kestrel - 57
Merlin - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 346

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 31
Bald Eagle - 62
Northern Harrier - 48
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 424
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 232
Red-tailed Hawk - 21
Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 141

Merlin - 24

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1037

Eagle Time (DST):

12:55pm - BE

02:41pm - BE

03:43pm - BEx2

03:57pm - BEx2

04:02pm - BE

04:05pm - BE

04:16pm - BE

04:20pm - BE

 A beautiful young Northern Harrier (Ann)

 An American Kestrel (Ann)

A low flying Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Other Birds:

American Goldfinch - many small flocks

Blue Jay - several small flocks

Canada Goose - a few small flocks

Cedar Waxwing - several small flocks

Loon sp - 6

Red-bellied Woodpecker - another quick flyover!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - several still flying through

Butterflies:

Clouded Sulphur - 1

Common Buckeye - 1 flying overhead

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - 1000 estimated (43 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

Fiery Skipper (Lynn)

Celery Looper Moth (Lynn)

Mammals:

American Red Fox - 1 (seen recently by park staff)

People:

Hugh, Bruce F, Kris, Jean, Ron, Betty, Berle, Dave, Ann, Norm, Carol, Kevin, Terry, Bruce G, Lee, Eleanor, Lynn, Mike D, Manny, our remote spotter this morning Sarah, plus several others who stopped by.  Thankyou everyone!

HMCS Ville de Québec (Ann)

Weather Prediction:

Tomorrow we have NE wind and sunny skies which will make spotting the hawks a bit of a challange.  Bring your chair!

Keep lookin' up!

Walter

Sep 13th - They Were Arriving by the Bus Load Today!!!

No, not birds.....children.....lots of them!!!  Today we had the great pleasure of hosting 2 bus loads of 6th graders from St Bridget Catholic School in Brooklin (North Whitby).  Terry had organized the visit through a friend (a teacher at the school) to bring the classrooms down to Rosetta today to learn all about butterfly and hawk migration.  Terry setup 4 stations around the park - one for tagging Monarchs by the rose gardens, one for tagging Monarchs in the main gardens by the fountain, one for learning about plants and trees, and one for learning about hawks and hawk watching.  The kids were split up in to 4 small groups and they rotated from station to station on a timed basis.  The plan worked perfectly!  For our hawk watching station unfortunately it was not a great day for viewing migrating birds of prey but with the help of Ann and Hugh, the three of us were at least able to explain the migration, show photos of the various raptors, show feathers of a few birds, and answer a lot of really tough questions.  The kids were quite keen to learn and also shared with us a lot of their own nature experiences from closer to home.  Not once today did I hear the word 'Pokemon' - LOL!  Anyway, a big 'thankyou' to all the children, the teachers, and their helpers for coming to down to Rosetta and making our day so special.  We loved having you!  Also, a big 'thankyou' to Terry, Betty, Bruce, Ann, Hugh, Carol, and the couple that were doing the plants and trees (sorry I didn't get your names) for making our visitors feel so welcomed and for sharing everything you could about what we do and see with them.  Hope you all had a fun-filled day!

A few lovely photos of the day from Ann...

Now on to the facts and figures...

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
Merlin - 3
Total - 10

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 24
Bald Eagle - 52
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 247
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 176
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 84

Merlin - 21

Peregrine Falcon - 5

Total - 691

A Sharp-shinned Hawk in a stoop! (Ann)

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - With a few flocks flying over this morning it appears that their migration has started.

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 (quickest view ever!)

An interesting sighting that Hugh and I had today was of a Northern Flicker which was being chased by a Merlin at high speed and only a foot or so above the path beside us where we stand.  It was over in the blink of an eye - the Flicker turned and headed out along the bluffs eastward and the Merlin continued on his way westward.

Butterflies:

Monarch - 75 (24 tagged)

People:

Hugh, Allison, Ann, Carol, Berle, Terry, Betty, Bruce, the St Bridget gang, plus a few others that stopped by including a lovely family that have been visiting from England.

Weather Prediction:

Good gusting NW and N winds tomorrow!  Might be a spot of rain between 7-9am.

We'll likely see more Broad-winged Hawks flying low over the park but we'll also focus some of our attention to the north in hopes of spotting a decent-sized kettle of them rising up above the trees!  Fingers crossed!

See you at the park!

Walter

Sep 12th - Blue Sky, No Wind, Few Raptors Again!

Today:
Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 7

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 24
Bald Eagle - 52
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 240
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 176
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 84

Merlin - 18

Peregrine Falcon - 5

Total - 681

Butterflies:

Monarch - 150 (21 tagged)

Of interest - Jackie R, who found and photographed one of our tagged Monarchs on the Toronto Islands a few weeks back came out to visit us at Rosetta today.  She wanted to meet Terry and Betty, watch a few butterflies get tagged and released, enjoy the gardens, and also visit with us along the fence watching for hawks.  This afternoon after leaving Rosetta Jackie was down at Woodbine Beach and low and behold, found and photographed another one of our Monarchs!  Monarch 'WPA 255' was tagged and released at the park today at 11:05am!  Thankyou Jackie, the Rosetta gang enjoyed meeting you today!

WPA 255 was photographed at Woodbine Beach today,

the same day that it was tagged at Rosetta! (Jackie)

People:

Kevin, Dave, Dan, Ron, Jean, Hugh, Terry, Betty, and a few others who stopped by to say 'hello'.

Weather Prediction:

SW wind on Tuesday.

Walter

Special Post - Those Darn Broad-winged Hawks!

After reviewing reports from other local hawk watches and personal accounts, it appears that those darn kettling Broad-winged Hawks are alluding us once again.  As in previous years, they tend to stay further north of our watch site and soar on the many thermals rising up from the land.  Oh well, we'll just enjoy the ones we do get, especially those that are flying low over the park!

Walter

Sep 11th - Another Great Day!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 3
Osprey - 5
Bald Eagle - 3
Northern Harrier - 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 136
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 41
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 39
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 254

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 23
Bald Eagle - 52
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 235
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 176
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 83
Merlin - 18

Peregrine Falcon - 5

Total - 674

Eagle Time (DST):

10:24am - BEx2

03:55pm - BE

Broad-winged Hawk (Ann)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

local Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Osprey (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Arvo)

local Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

local Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Other Birds:

Common Raven - 2

Great Blue Heron - 3

Loon sp - 11

Butterflies:

Monarch - 200+ (19 tagged)

People:

Phil, Kris, Sheldon, Mike D, Mike F, Lee, Sophie, Norm M, Ian, Justin, Bruce, Gunnar, Allison, Ron & Jean, Derryn, Betty, Ann, Mark, Patti, Mike & Leslie, Norm S, Ivor, Arvo, Pat & Nancy, Murray & Debbie, Dave C, Berle, Dave S, Peter, Eleanor, Carol, and many many more!!!  Thankyou to everyone for an amazing day of fun in the sun!  And thankyou to those who were kind enough to bring food and drinks, we really appreciated it!

Weather Prediction:

A slight bit of NW wind to start the morning and then quickly switching to SW and S.

Walter