Wind (current)

Oct 28th - 45 Birds on Light Wind

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 19
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 18
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Total - 45

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2407
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 159
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1445
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 11
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 623
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5563

a beautifully marked Rough-legged Hawk (Mike D)

a very high-flyin' Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

The next group of photos are all of the same Red-tailed Hawk...

(Mike D)

(Rosemary)

(Mike D)

(Mike D)

Other Birds:
Loon sp - 2
Snow Bunting - a few small flocks flying overhead

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 1
Monarch - 1

Mammals:
American Red Fox

People:
Matt, Steve, Kris, Ron, Peter, Patty, Terry, Bruce, Jeff, Mike D, Berle, Arvo, Rosemary, Carol, Sophie, Nancy, Ann, Gary, Paul, Lynn, MC, Hugh, Joyce, Rayfield P, and several others.  Thankyou everyone!

Weather Prediction:
SW wind to start the day and switching to W by 1:00pm.

Walter

Oct 27th - Friday's Forecast *Updated*

Weather Prediction: 
Light NW wind for Friday.  Let's see what the birds think.

Walter

Oct 26th - 3 More Bald Eagles!

After reading Jean Iron's report for the Cranberry Marsh Hawkwatch in Whitby, I can confidently say that the wind was just not strong enough to keep the birds flying along the shoreline of the lake today.  They had 522 raptors in 6.5 hours and we had 54 raptors in 9 hours!!!  Hopefully some of Jean's birds got held up somewhere in-between the two watches and we'll see them come over Rosetta on Friday, our next good day.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 17
Bald Eagle - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 32
Total - 54

Eagle Time (DST):
11:49am - BE
12:24pm - BEx2

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2388
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 157
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1443
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 50
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 605
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5518

another high-flyin' Bald Eagle (Terry)

Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

 another dark-marked 'Northern' Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - lots of small groups moving through
Duck sp. - 1 flyover
Loon sp. - 1 flyover

Northern Cardinal (Terry)

Hermit Thrush (Lee)

Mammals:
American Red Fox

Oh my, so beautiful! (Lee)

Not sure but I think the fox was looking to
mate with Lee's hair!  (Walter)

People:
Matt, Steve, Sophie, Manny, Berle, Terry, Peter, Carol, Hugh, Vickie, Diana, Lee, and Allison.  Great day despite the lack of birds, thankyou.

Weather Prediction:
Rain for tomorrow!

See you Friday,
Walter

Oct 25th - See What Happens When...

...you leave the park early.....a Golden Eagle flies along the top of the bluffs, just above treetop level!!!

At 5:19pm, while looking for the last few raptors of the day I spotted a bird heading towards Matt and myself.  As the bird constantly flapped it's wings and came closer to us I said to Matt that it's likely another crow.  As it reached roughly the east end of the park I noticed that it lacked the sheen of a crow, infact it looked brownish in colour.  Once I put my binoculars on it again I said that it looked like an eagle.  Oh yes it was an eagle!  As it flew by us I saw that it lacked any white markings underneath.  All markings were somewhat brownish-gray in colour.  Something of interest that I noticed was that when it turned away from us the feathers on it's wing appeared 'silvery' like that of a Turkey Vulture.  Another feature that stuck with me was that the head and beak size didn't appear to fit what I knew as a 'Bald' - even though that's what I identified the bird as at the park.  I really had to rush home to hit the books!!!  Thankfully there weren't anymore birds so home I went!  With my little knowledge of Golden Ealges and especially at such close range I was able to conclude that it was infact a 'Golden' but I couldn't say with certainty whether it was an adult or a sub-adult.  Because it was such a busy day for migration Matt's camera had gone through 2 batteries and my camera was buried at the bottom of my backpack so unfortunately no photographs were taken of this gorgeous bird.

It was a great day all around, our best so far this season!!!

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 236
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 59
Cooper's Hawk - 11
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 11
Red-tailed Hawk - 178
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 1
Total - 509

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2371
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 99
Northern Harrier - 157
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1441
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 50
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 573
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5464

Eagle Time (DST):
11:44am - BE
12:34pm - BEx2
12:53pm - BE
03:33pm - BE
05:19pm - GE

Red-tailed Hawk (Lee)

Turkey Vulture (Kris)

 Northern Goshawk (Arvo)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Arvo)

a juvenile Northern Harrier (Lee)

a crow harrassing a passing Northern Goshawk (Kris)

Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

a high-flyin' Bald Eagle (Terry)

another Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Lee)

a low-flyin' Turkey Vulture (Lee)

 a Red-tailed Hawk passing the Moon (Kris)
(This shot was slightly edited by yours truely)


Other Birds:
American Crow - lots again today!
Common Raven - 5
Evening Grosbeak - 1
Loon sp - 2

Common Raven (Arvo)

Butterflies:
Monarch - 3

People:
Matt, Steve, Kris, Peter, Gary, Paul, Joyce, Allison, Hugh, Betty, Sophie, Ron, Arvo, Monika, Terry, Carol, Lynn, Trudy, Jean, Ely, Lee, Blane, Vickie, Diana, and likely a few others.  Thankyou for all your help today!

Weather Prediction:
N and NE wind for tomorrow.  Birds will likely be high and there won't be any clouds.  Eek!!!

See you there,
Walter

Oct 24th - Holy Crow!

Today was one of those days - perfect sky, perfect wind, very few birds!  As was mentioned by Ron Pittaway, it's likely that we were just out of birds ready to migrate.  This was day 3 of decent wind blowing down from the north.  Oh well, we all had a great time at the watch all the same.  We'll try again tomorrow.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 17
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 15
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
Golden Eagle - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 49

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2135
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 149
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1388
Cooper's Hawk - 49
Northern Goshawk - 7
Red-shouldered Hawk - 39
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 395
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 4
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 4955

Eagle Time (DST):
02:10pm - GE

What We Are Seeing: 
"Northern" Red-tailed Hawk: Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron mentioned that most of the Red-tailed Hawks now migrating past Rosetta are the Northern subspecies abieticola. Compared to our local breeding Red-taileds, Northern birds average decidedly darker overall with more heavily streaked belly bands. The scientific name abieticola means “dweller of the fir” referring to the Northern’s breeding range and habitat.

a heavily streaked and darker marked "Northern" Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

and another "Northern" Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

as compared to our local Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

The number of Northern Goshawks seen so far this fall at Rosetta and Cranberry Marsh (and elsewhere) suggests that southern Ontario may be experiencing a minor irruption.

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

Of interest:
As of today the Holiday Beach Hawk Watch south of Windsor has counted nearly 38000 Turkey Vultures and just across the Detroit River at the hawk watch near Detroit they've counted over 32000!  Sure some birds would be the same but not all.  My God there must be an awful lot of dead and rotting meat somewhere to support them!!!

Other Birds:
American Crow - 100+!!!
Black Scoter - 6
Loon sp - 4
Swan sp - 1 (up high, possibly a Tundra)
White-winged Scoter - a few small groups flying low over the lake

Black Scoters (Tom)

Mammals:
American Red Fox - 1

 Red Fox (Trudy)

People:
Gray, Tom, Peter, Ron, Betty, Matt, Manny, Berle, Terry, Paul, Arvo, Hugh, MC, Jean, Lee, Haja, and Trudy.  Thanks for all the comraderie in-between bird sightings today!

Weather Prediction:
More strong NW wind for tomorrow!  Hopefully the birds will want to go!

See you at the park,
Walter

Oct 23rd - 3 More Northern Goshawks!

Sorry for the late post.  I found it absolutely impossible to type anything while my eyes were shut earlier!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 13
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 81
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
Total - 124

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2118
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 145
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1373
Cooper's Hawk - 49
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 37
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 387
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 41
Total - 4906

adult Cooper's Hawk (Paul)

Northern Goshawk (Paul)

Other Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 2
Loon sp - 1
Northern Flicker - 1 or 2
Songbirds - many groups of mixed blackbirds, robins, jays, chickadees, and nuthatches flying westward

Fox Sparrow (Paul)

Hermit Thrush (Paul)

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 3
Monarch - 4 (no tagging)

People:
Gray, Paul, Phil, Betty, Bob, Karen, Steven, Dave, Ron, Trudy, Sophie, Mark, Rosemary, MC, Bruce & Ann Falls, Pat & Nancy, Arvo, John & Zeny, Hugh, Berle, Allison, Tim, Cam, Matt, Peter, Lee, Denny & Kate, and several others!  Thankyou everyone for a terrific day!

Weather Prediction:
Good NW wind tomorrow with a few sprinkles of rain mid-day.....hopefully not too many sprinkles!

Walter