Sep 21st - Strong SW Wind, 11 Birds!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 11

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 32
Osprey - 48
Bald Eagle - 50
Northern Harrier - 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 118
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Broad-winged Hawk - 21
Red-tailed Hawk - 19
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 84
Merlin - 15
Peregrine Falcon - 11
Unidentified Buteo - 3
Unidentified Falcon - 3
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 432

Red-tailed Hawk (Theresa)

Red-tailed Hawk (Theresa)

Cooper's Hawk (Theresa)

Insects:
Monarch - 250 (estimated).  Congratulations go out to Terry and Betty for tagging their 2000th Monarch butterfly of the season today!

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Sophie, Walter, Allison, Jennifer, Joe, Byron plus a few others including 2 birders from 'The Peg'.

Weather Prediction:
According to The Weather Network - moderate wind blowing down from the north, slowing as the afternoon progresses.  We should have a decent flight of raptors.

See you there,
Walter

Sep 19th - 71 Raptors, 11 Species.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 6
Osprey - 7
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 6
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 22
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Total - 71

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:41am - BE - 1
12:07pm - BE - 1
12:34pm - BE - 2

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 48
Bald Eagle - 50
Northern Harrier - 19
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 115
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Broad-winged Hawk - 21
Red-tailed Hawk - 17
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 83
Merlin - 15
Peregrine Falcon - 10
Unidentified Buteo - 3
Unidentified Falcon - 3
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 419

adult Bald Eagle (Joe)

juvenile Broad-winged Hawk (Joe)

adult Red-tailed Hawk (Joe)

juvenile Red-tailed Hawk (Joe)

juvenile Northern Harriers (Lee)

American Kestrel (Joe)

2 American Kestrels and a Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Other Birds:
Loon sp - 4
Blue Jay - 4000+
Common Raven - 1

Loon heading south (Lee)

Cedar Waxwings (Lee)

Blue Jay! (Lee)

a pair of Northern Flickers (Lee)

Insects:
Monarchs - 300 (estimated)
Mourning Cloak - 1 (25th butterfly species since August 1st)
Dragonflies - several!

Mexico or bust! (Lee)

Hawkwatchers:
Walter, Joe, Lee, Theresa, Julie, Hugh, Ron, Berle, Pat & Nancy, Shael, Joyce, Rosemary, Dave, Peter, Bruce F, and many others.  Thank you everyone!

Weather Prediction:
Keep an eye on Saturday and possibly Sunday.

See you again soon,
Walter

Sep 18th - 142 Raptors, 11/15 Species!

Today it took the birds a little while to show but once they did we had a steady stream flying over the park.  Any day when we've had 11 out of the possible 15 usual suspects, we've done good.  At one point this afternoon we had all 3 falcons in the air at the same time - something we don't usually see.  Thank you everyone for a wonderful day of hawk watching - not easy when the sky is blue.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 20
Osprey - 6
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 53
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 37
Merlin - 5
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Unidentified Buteo - 2
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Total - 142

Eagle Time (EDT):
03:36pm - BE - 1 (adult)

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 20
Osprey - 41
Bald Eagle - 46
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 109
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 18
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 61
Merlin - 13
Peregrine Falcon - 9
Unidentified Buteo - 3
Unidentified Falcon - 2
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 348

Other Birds:
Loon sp (3), Eastern Bluebird (3), Blue Jay (4000+), and a Great Blue Heron

Insects:
Monarchs - 250 (estimated)
Dragonflies - lots!!!

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Sheldon, Berle, Walter, Hugh, Charlie, Dave, Lynn, Terry, Betty, Bruce Falls and son Rob, plus several others.  Thankyou!

Weather Prediction:
Wednesday will start out with N wind and then transition to NE wind mid-day.  Birds should be flying up a bit higher than today so bring your chair.

See you at the fence,
Walter

Sep 16th - 18 Birds!

OMG, we've finally reached the '200 Raptor' mark!

Our raptor count as of September 16th over the years...

2006 - 1185
2007 - 1977
2008 - 867
2009 - 766
2010 - 2987
2011 - 1935
2012 - 1505
2013 - 1582
2014 - 2843
2015 - 1625
2016 - 1058
2017 - 386
2018 - 206

Let's hope for much cooler weather and strong NW winds in the weeks ahead!

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 16
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1

To Date:
Osprey - 35
Bald Eagle - 45
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 56
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 16
Red-tailed Hawk - 7
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 24
Merlin - 8
Peregrine Falcon - 6
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 206

Other Birds:
Cooper's Hawk (local), Merlin (local), and a couple of hundred Blue Jays.

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Leslie, Betty, Hugh, and me.

Walter

Sep 15th - Another Eagle!

Today:
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12

Eagle Time (EDT):
09:38am - BE - 1

Walter