Back on September 6th in the early afternoon the hawkwatchers that were gathered at the park witnessed a large dark raptor circling along over the park with a buddy, a Turkey Vulture. Was it another vulture or was it a juvenile Bald Eagle? With no distinct markings whatsoever on the underside and poor lighting I laid back on the bench to study what I could. The two features that stood out for me were the head and the wings. The head did not appear to protrude out like that of a Bald Eagle but also didn't appear to be that of a Turkey Vulture either. As for the wings, they just appeared different than the vulture's, especially at the tips and the trailing edges. Also there was no distinct dihedral (like TVs display) in the wings as it soared and the bird didn't rock in the wind as TVs do. This bird really left us confused and scratching our heads. Any later in the season and I would've called it a Golden Eagle but not without discussion, of course. We did have one heck of a talk about what it possibly was and eventually concurred that putting it down as an 'unidentified raptor' was the best solution to our problem - although I was still slightly leaning towards a GE.
Move ahead 2 days to the 8th and doesn't the Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch in Port Stanley get a Golden Eagle! Their report read, "The big surprise today was a Golden Eagle that was very low as it passed through right overhead. The bird had a faded off-white band across the tail deck and dull golden feathering on the nape of the neck but was otherwise completely dark and had a smaller head than a Bald. This is one of a very few Golden Eagles that have ever been recorded in the month of September at Hawk Cliff." Of note, during our sighting at Rosetta on the 6th, the bird's tail was never spread open and lighting was not on our side to notice the colouring of the nape of the neck. All birds for the day appeared as silhouettes and hard to identify.
For those who do not totally understand the relationship between our raptor watch location and the Port Stanley location, it's really quite simple. Because of the way in which raptors and other birds navigate around the Great Lakes during fall migration, many birds flying down over eastern Ontario and western Quebec run in to a natural barrier in the Great Lakes. They don't like to fly over large bodies of cold water as they do not provide the hot air thermals the birds need in order to migrate efficiently. They must then follow the north shore of Lake Ontario until they reach the west end and then turn southward. They eventually arrive at Lake Erie and must follow it's northern shoreline all the way to it's west end, just south of Windsor. Then they're free to fly south as they please. The length of time it takes for a large bird to pass over the Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch and then eventually over the Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch depends on a number of factors including wind and weather. With favourable conditions it could easily be done in 2 days. We did not have any unfavourable weather over the span of those couple of days and the wind was blowing down from the north - the direction that keeps the birds hugging the shorelines. I personally don't see any reason why the Golden Eagle observed at Hawk Cliff was not the exact same big dark bird that we saw over Rosetta 2 days earlier therefore I'm adding it to our count. If you're not happy with that, then take your bins elsewhere to play - lmao!!!
This is actually our 3rd Golden Eagle observed in the month of September ever. The previous early date was on the 19th in 2006 and the other was on the 30th in 2015.
Update:
Lee had an Osprey fly over the Watch during the afternoon yesterday (Sep 9th). She also saw the local Cooper's Hawk and a Search & Rescue Helicopter.
Osprey (Lee)
local Cooper's Hawk (Lee)
Search & Rescue (Lee)
To Date:
Osprey - 27
Bald Eagle - 41
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 16
Broad-winged Hawk - 12
Red-tailed Hawk - 7
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 23
Merlin - 6
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 143
See you again soon, maybe even tomorrow!
Walter
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