Oct 22nd - Great Winds Bring Great Birds!

A perfect day to be at the Watch!  The first raptors came over the park as the sun was coming up on the horizon.  Our first bird of the day was a Northern Harrier (not surprising!) and before 10:00am we'd tallied-up 20 of them!  We ended the day with a respectable count of 36!  We also had a fabulous day with 22 Red-shouldered Hawks being counted!  Many 'shoulders' were flying either right over us at treetop level or just out over the bluffs at eye level.  They put on a show for the ages!  Six eagles on the day only added to the day's excitement, 4 Balds and 2 Goldens.  A big 'congratulations' goes out to Nancy Barrett for finally seeing her first ever Golden Eagle!  Nancy has been birding for rougly 30 years and although she has tried and tried again, this bad boy had completed eluded her.  Way to go!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 76
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 36
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 115
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 22
Red-tailed Hawk - 156
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 423

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2105
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 139
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1292
Cooper's Hawk - 45
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 35
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 372
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 41
Total - 4782

Eagle Time (DST):
08:09am - BE
08:58am - BE
10:04am - BE
10:15am - GE
10:20am - BE
12:21pm - GE

So many amazing shots of the birds today!  Thankyou!  

Bald Eagle (Ann)

Golden Eagle (Mike D)

young Red-shouldered Hawk (Paul)

an adult male Northern Harrier (Mike D)

a young Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

an adult female Northern Harrier (Paul)

a young Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Northern Harrier (Mike D)

a young Turkey Vulture (Paul)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Golden Eagle (Mike D)

an adult Cooper's Hawk (Paul)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

an adult Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (top), Cooper's Hawk (bottom) (Paul)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

another young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Other Birds:
American Tree Sparrow - a few here and there
Common Raven - 2 low over the park
Eastern Phoebe - 1 or 2
Eastern Towhee - 1
Fox Sparrow - 6
Loon sp - 6
Scoter sp - several big flocks heading out over the lake to the east of the park
Snow Bunting - 1 flying overhead

People:
Paul, Mike, Justin, Hugh, Patty, Bruce F, Ann, Jeff, Peter, Rosemary, Allison, Ron, Eleanor, Nancy & Adam, Phil, Arvo, Mark A, Sheldon, Rick, Berle, Gunnar, Cori, Meera, Sonja, Bruce & Ann Falls, Matt, Mark, MC, Betty, and several others!  A big 'thankyou' to everyone for the support!  There's no way in this world I could've kept track of what was happening by myself.  I really appreciate the help and the company, of course!

 The gang (Ann)

Weather Prediction:
A little less strength to the wind on Sunday...but not by much!  Also, the wind will be blowing a little more from the west.

See you at the Watch,
Walter

Oct 21st - Saturday's Forecast

Weather Prediction:
NW wind blowin' real good and gustin' like crazy!  Hopefully the birds understand what this means!

Note - I'm not sure if the washrooms will be open or not.

Don't forget your bins!

Walter

Oct 19th - No Clouds, Wrong Wind, 162 Birds?!?!

Kind of a surprise to everyone that there were as many birds as there were given the conditions.  Oh well, we'll taken it.  A nice highlight today was seeing 4 Northern Harriers flying together just out over the lake.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 102
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 18
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 30
American Kestrel - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Total - 162

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2029
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 103
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1177
Cooper's Hawk - 39
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 216
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 273
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 40
Total - 4359

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - many flying through the park
White-breasted Nuthatch - many flying through and over the park

Butterflies:
American Lady - 1
Cabbage White - 11
Clouded Sulphur - 2
Fiery Skipper - 2
Monarch - 30 (5 tagged), current cumulative count - 4552 (976 tagged)
Orange Sulphur - 4

People:
Sophie, Peter, Dave, Pat & Nancy, Carol, Hugh, Berle, Betty, Terry, Joyce, and Trudy.  Thank you everyone for your help finding, pointing out, and ID'ing most of today's high-flyers.

Weather Prediction:
Rain with a bit of rain mixed-in!  See you when it stops.

Walter

Oct 18th - 7 Peregrine Falcons!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 18
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 7
Total - 28

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1927
Osprey - 58
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 98
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1159
Cooper's Hawk - 38
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 186
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 270
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 38
Total - 4197

Other Birds:
Fox Sparrow - 1
Scoter sp - large group of 50-60 flying north to south over the park and dropping low out over the lake

Butterflies:
Monarch - 1
Orange Sulphur - 1

People:
Lee, Carol, Allison, Trudy, Hugh, Betty, Terry, plus a few others who stopped by.

Weather Prediction:
W switching to SW wind for tomorrow.

Walter

Oct 17th - Tuesday's Forecast

Weather Prediction:
Very strong SW wind tomorrow.  That may bring Peregrines, Merlins, and maybe a few late Osprey our way.

Walter