...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
