Oct 13th - 250 Birds, 10 Species, 2 Eagles!

Another great day at the Watch!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 59
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 149
Cooper's Hawk - 10
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 14
Merlin - 5
Unidentified Accipiter - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Total - 250

Eagle Time (EDT):
01:50pm - BE - 1
02:27pm - BE - 1

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 374
Osprey - 64
Bald Eagle - 72
Northern Harrier - 118
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 992
Cooper's Hawk - 43
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 27
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 326
Merlin - 62
Peregrine Falcon - 34
Unidentified Accipiter - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 7
Unidentified Eagle - 0
Unidentified Falcon - 11
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 2201

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Red-tailed Hawk and American Crow (Lee)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Lee)

Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Cooper's Hawk (Ann)

Northern Goshawk (Ann)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

Merlin (Ann)

Merlin (Ann)

Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

 (This is the classic Ann shot!)

Other Birds:
Lots of songbirds flying overhead including this...

White-breasted Nuthatch (Ann)

Insects:
Monarch - 5 (no tagging done today)

Hawkwatchers:
Peter, Mike, Mark, Theresa, Arvo, Ann, Lee, Hugh, Betty, Kode, Phil, Jennifer, Berle, Sheldon, Sue, Dave, Anne, Bob, the TFN Junior Naturalists, and likely several others.  Thank you everyone!

Weather Prediction:
Decent SW wind for Sunday.

See ya,
Walter

Oct 12th - A Bird for Every Day of the Year!

A scene most of you never get to see - LOL! (Walter)

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 32
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 18
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 226
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 16
American Kestrel - 53
Merlin - 5
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 2
Total - 365

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 315
Osprey - 64
Bald Eagle - 70
Northern Harrier - 114
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 843
Cooper's Hawk - 33
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 27
Red-tailed Hawk - 58
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 312
Merlin - 57
Peregrine Falcon - 34
Unidentified Accipiter - 0
Unidentified Buteo - 7
Unidentified Eagle - 0
Unidentified Falcon - 10
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 1951

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

American Kestrel (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (Ann)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Ann)

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Ann)

Merlin (Lee)

Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

 Northern Harrier (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (Lee)

Merlin (Mike D)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Other Birds:
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1, Great Blue Heron - 1, and lots 'n' lots of songbirds!

Insects:
Butterflies - Monarch - 31, Cabbage White - 2
Dragonflies - still a few in the air

Monarch (Lee)

Hawkwatchers:
Walter, Mike D, Ron, Liz, Theresa, Dave, Lee, Kris, Peter, Joe, Sheldon, Ann, Allison, Joyce, Norm, Berle, Pat & Nancy, Betty, Cori, Jennifer, and several others.  Thank you everyone for a spectacular day!

Straw Flowers (Ann)

Niagara Falls (Lee)

Weather Prediction:
Decent W and possibly some NW wind for Saturday.  Might be worth going!

Gotta run, see you again soon,
Walter

Oct 11th - 123 Birds, 39 were Falcons!

A lovely Fall day of hawk watching at the park.

At 1:50pm something flew along the bluffs - with only a brief view through the binoculars, it's the first time in my 10 years of watching falcons migrating that my very first thought was "Wow, that's not a Peregrine, it's way too big", and then it went out of view behind the trees.  We'll leave it at that and see what shows up further down the hawk-watching pipeline.....if anything.  The only notes that I can add are, wingbeats were powerful and lighting was not great.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 3
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 67
Cooper's Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 23
Merlin - 8
Peregrine Falcon - 5
Unidentified Falcon - 3
Total - 123

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 283
Osprey - 63
Bald Eagle - 70
Northern Harrier - 96
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 617
Cooper's Hawk - 27
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 27
Red-tailed Hawk - 42
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 259
Merlin - 52
Peregrine Falcon - 33
Unidentified Accipiter - 0
Unidentified Buteo - 6
Unidentified Eagle - 0
Unidentified Falcon - 8
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 1586

local Cooper's Hawk (Theresa)

Northern Harrier (Theresa)

Other Birds:
Loon sp. - 2, Eastern Bluebird - 21, and Pine Siskin - 29

Pine Siskins (Theresa)

Insects:
Butterflies - Monarch - 66, Cabbage White - 7, and Red Admiral - 1
Dragonflies - still a few migrating

Orb Weaver spider (Theresa)

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Joe, Walter, Allison, Berle, Betty, Manfred, Jennifer, Liz, and Bruce & Ann Falls

Weather Prediction:
I'm going with Environment Canada's forecast for tomorrow - NW wind at 20kms, gusting to 40kms

See you at the fence!
Walter

Oct 9th - 46 Raptors!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 7
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 29
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 2
Total - 46

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 280
Osprey - 61
Bald Eagle - 70
Northern Harrier - 87
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 550
Cooper's Hawk - 24
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 27
Red-tailed Hawk - 42
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 236
Merlin - 44
Peregrine Falcon - 28
Unidentified Accipiter - 0
Unidentified Buteo - 6
Unidentified Eagle - 0
Unidentified Falcon - 5
Unidentified Raptor - 2
Total - 1463

Other Birds:
Carolina Wren - 2
Yellow-rumped Warbler - a few
Blue Jay - some still migrating!

Insects:
Butterflies - Monarch - 33 (Betty tagged 10), Cabbage White - 9, Clouded Sulphur - 2, Black Swallowtail - 1, Red Admiral - 1, Orange Sulphur - 1, and Question Mark - 1
Dragonflies - some still migrating!

Hawkwatchers:
Betty, Bill, Walter, Cori, and MC.  Thankyou for a lovely afternoon!

Weather Prediction:
Keep your eye on Friday, it could be good.

See you again soon,
Walter