Sep 28th - Only 18 Birds!

Quite abit slower than expected after the rain.  We only had 18 birds over 4 hours of hawk-watching this afternoon.

September 18th:
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
American Kestrel - 3
Total - 18

Northern Harrier (Lee)

Northern Harrier (Lee)

 Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

American Kestrel (Lee)

Osprey (Lee)

Other Birds:
Merlin (local), Common Loon, Great Blue Heron and a late Chimney Swift.  The park was fairly quiet.

Great Blue Heron (Lee)

Insects:
Monarchs - 150 (estimated)

Hawkwatchers:
Walter, Lee and Connor

MS Hamburg (Walter)

Weather Prediction:
Sunday starts off with NE wind but quickly switches to E wind for the remainder of the day.

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 27th - 15 Birds and a Link.

September 27th:
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 11
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 2
Total - 15

Hawkwatchers:
Bruce Lee and Ann.  Thankyou.


On Septermber 24th we were happy to introduce TV and media personality Kevin Frankish to our hawk watch and the birds that we see each fall.  For those of you that missed it, Kevin was actively learning and filming (with his cell phone) everything he could.  Shortly after arriving the bird that he came to see just so happened to come along, a Bald Eagle.  Unfortunately it wasn't one of those jaw-dropping eye-level flybys.....it was high up...high high up...but he did see it.  The visit with Kevin was alot of fun and included a group photo that was part of the post for that day.  Kevin had explained to us that he was going to use the videos that he was collecting on his phone for a small project that he was working on.  He just finished the project today and has kindly allowed me to share it with everyone.  It really captures the hawk-watching experience at Rosetta nicely and conveys a very important message.  Thankyou Kevin, please visit us again when you can.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDh2ZAPNM4s


Weather Prediction:
Watch tomorrow afternoon after the rain as the wind shifts to N and NW.  It should bring some birds along.....maybe.

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 26th & Sep 9th - Today's Report plus a Missing Report.

September 26th:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 43
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 27
Merlin - 3
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Total - 90

Photos:

Sharp-shinned Hawks (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Broad-winged Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Northern Harrier (Lee)

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 53
Osprey - 32
Bald Eagle - 43
Northern Harrier - 47
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 329
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 64
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
American Kestrel - 142
Merlin - 13
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Unidentified Buteo - 13
Unidentified Falcon - 4
Unidentified Raptor - 6
Total - 767

Hawkwatchers:
Mark, Kris, Andrew, Betty, Lee and Dave.  Thankyou everyone!



And this report was added in to the count...

September 9th:
Osprey - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 6

Hawkwatcher:
Dave

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 24th - 243 Birds, 4 Eagles!

Wow, that was a fun day!!!  Birds throughout the morning and in to the early afternoon before slowing and Monarchs and dragonflies picking-up after that and going in to the late afternoon.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 37
Osprey - 3
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 29
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 69
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 7
Red-tailed Hawk - 6
American Kestrel - 76
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Raptor - 6
Total - 243

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:46am - BE
10:53am - BE
02:39pm - BE x2 (likely the highest flying eagles I've ever seen!)

Photos:

 American Kestrel (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (Mike D)

American Kestrel (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

American Kestrel (Mike D)

a distant and high-flying Bald Eagle (Mike D)

a young Broad-winged Hawk (Mike D)

American Kestrel (Mike D)

American Kestrel (Mike D)

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 51
Osprey - 28
Bald Eagle - 43
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 284
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 63
Red-tailed Hawk - 14
American Kestrel - 114
Merlin - 10
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Unidentified Buteo - 12
Unidentified Falcon - 4
Unidentified Raptor - 6
Total - 671

Other Birds:
Lots including Loons, Common Ravens, White-throated Sparrows and a Scarlet Tanager!  Also, appearances from the local Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vultures.

Insects:
Dragonflies - A large flow mid-afternoon to late afternoon.
Butterflies - Pipevine Swallowtail in the garden and many mostly 'unidentifieds' flying by the hawk watch.  Monarchs were all day highlighted by an amazing push along the bluffs in the late afternoon.  Around 4pm'ish, we were counting 70-80 a minute just off the bluffs while there were many more flying just above us.  Facinating to witness!!!

Hawkwatchers:
Noam, Theresa, Allison, Walter, Mark, Kris, Trudy, Lee, Phil, Dave, Naish, Margaret, Peter, Bruce, Mike D, Connor, Pat & Nancy, Ron P, Kevin F, Arvo, Betty, Terry, Rosemary, Lindsey, Yvonne, Cori, Bruce & Ann Falls and their son Rob, plus several other great folks.  Thankyou everyone for a wonderful day at the park.

 a great pic of most of the group (Kevin F)

Weather Prediction:
A switch back to S and SW wind for tomorrow.

See you all again real soon,
Walter

Sep 23rd - A Wind Direction Shift Brought Some Birds.

Wished I could've been at Rosetta this afternoon but sometimes life gets in the way, as you know.  Anyway, not a problem because the folks gathered did a fantastic job without me, as they always do.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 14
Osprey - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 33
Broad-winged Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 20
Merlin - 3
Unidentified Buteo - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 3
Total - 79

Above 3 shots - Merlin snackin' on a dragonfly (Lee)

local Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 14
Osprey - 25
Bald Eagle - 39
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 215
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 56
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 36
Merlin - 8
Unidentified Buteo - 11
Unidentified Falcon - 4
Total - 426

Other Birds:
Local Merlin, Red-tailed Hawk and Cooper's Hawk

Insects:
Butterflies - Pipevine Swallowtail

Pipevine Swallowtail (Theresa)

same Pipevine Swallowtail (Theresa)

Hawkwatchers:
Lee, Jim, Betty, Theresa, Peter, Walter (along Kingston Road) and maybe a few others.
Thankyou everyone!

Weather Prediction:
Finally, NW wind!!!  At the time of writing (10:30pm) tomorrow is looking to be a fantastic day...so long as the birds read the same forecast, of course.  I'll be there early to catch that first bird!

See you along the fence,
Walter

Sep 22nd - Another Rare Butterfly for Rosetta!

Yesterday (Sep 21st) our friend Susan Brown showed me a few pictures on her camera of a butterfly she had photographed a little earlier in the day.  The butterfly (actually a skipper, which is somewhere between a true butterfly and a moth) was nectaring on Butterfly Bush (Buddleia) in the rose garden/butterfly garden in the north-east corner of the park.  Right when I looked at the first photo, although I have never seen one before, I said, "OMG, I think it's an Ocola Skipper."  It was eventually positively identified by expert Max Larrivée on the Ontario Butterflies Google forum.

Ocola Skippers are normally found in Central America and in the 'Gulf' states like Texas, Alabama, Florida, etc. but in the fall they for whatever reason migrate northward into states like Arkansas, DC, and West Virginia.  When winds are very favourable some will reach much further north, a few will even make it into Southern Ontario.  In 2012 one was found and photographed in High Park by Bob Yukich and another was photographed in Hamilton in 2015.  What a find, not at all the common visitor!

After seeing Susan's photos I went over to the bush that she had found it on and waited roughly an hour with no luck.  I am absolutely thrilled for Susan, she is having an amazing year of butterflying.  This is not her first 'rare for Ontario' butterfly this year.

This sighting represents our 41st butterfly species at Rosetta since Frank started taking notes back in 2002 RMG Butterfly List and it's our 28th species for our 2019 fall butterfly list.

Ocola Skipper - note the striped abdomen (Susan)

Ocola Skipper - note the long slender forewings (Susan)

Again, congratulations Susan!

Walter