November 16th - Another Bird!

Several birders took advantage of the gorgeous weather and spent time at the Watch today even though the likelihood of any kind of migration was slim to none.  Beautiful days like today are not going to last much longer.  Between the hours of 10:00AM and 2:00PM our lone hawk was a Merlin.  We now need just 44 more birds to reach 50,000 raptors ever counted at Rosetta.

Here are a couple of photos that Ann and I took...

(Ann)

 

(Walter)

(Walter)

(Ann)

 

Walter

Of Interest - Latest Observation Dates

The following is a list showing the latest date ever of observation for each species at Rosetta.

Broad-winged Hawk - Oct 29th
Osprey - Nov 2nd
Turkey Vulture - Nov 21st
Bald Eagle - Nov 22nd
Merlin - Nov 23rd
Northern Goshawk - Nov 25th
Golden Eagle - Nov 25th
American Kestrel - Nov 25th
Peregrine Falcon - Nov 27th
Northern Harrier - Nov 28th
Rough-legged Hawk - Nov 28th
Sharp-shinned Hawk - Nov 30th
Cooper's Hawk - Nov 30th
Red-shouldered Hawk - Nov 30th
Red-tailed Hawk - Nov 30th

Walter

November 15th - 3 Sharpies and an Update

A few dedicated hawk-watchers including Theresa, Berle, and Hugh were at the park today and counted 3 migrating Sharp-shinned Hawks between the hours of 11:00AM and 1:00PM.

Also, got news from Theresa that the foundation for Frank's bench has finally been poured.  The worker mentioned to her that it could take up to 30 days for the concrete to set this time of year.  Of course, it could be sooner if we have a week of warmer weather he explained.

 

Here is a link to some fabulous eagle photos and videos that Lee has taken on her BC adventure.  She went to Brakendale on a whim.  I would say that it was a very good choice!

 

Don't think our count will be too high tomorrow (Sat) but I'll be at the park searching the sky for a few hours anyway.  See you there.

 

Walter

 

Special Post - Frank's Bench and Lee

Got word today from Ann that the city will be pouring the concrete foundation for Frank's bench tomorrow at Rosetta.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Also, got a text message from Lee, who's out in BC which said "Having the most awesome eagle day of my life.  10-20 here in Squamish, first eating, now circling."  Best of luck Lee, hope you see many many more!

Walter

November 12th - 4 Golden and 3 Bald Eagles!

We're starting to see the end of migration as perfect wind and cloud cover only produced 52 birds.  Don't get me wrong, birds that have an impact on a day's count are now finishing up but there are likely still some spectacular birds to come.  Eagles, Rough-legs, Red-shoulders, Red-tails, and small numbers of a few others are quite possibly.  

Today:
Bald Eagle - 3
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 28
Golden Eagle - 4
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 52

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 107
Northern Harrier - 127
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1591
Cooper's Hawk - 47
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 16
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 588
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 7
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 62
Peregrine Falcon - 53
Total - 5008

Eagle Time (EST):
12:05 PM - GE immature (non-adult)
12:05 PM - GE adult
12:09 PM - GE immature (non-adult)
12:12 PM - GE adult
12:35 PM - BE adult
12:59 PM - BE immature (non-adult)
02:33 PM - BE immature (non-adult)

A collection of photos from the day...

adult Golden Eagle (courtesy of Ann)

immature Bald Eagle (courtesy of Ann)

 

Red-tailed Hawk (courtesy of Paul)

 

same Red-tailed Hawk (courtesy of Ann)

immature Red-shouldered Hawk (courtesy of Paul)

 

Red-shouldered Hawk (courtesy of Ann)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (courtesy of Paul)

 

Six more Loons were counted today.  At 9:00 AM we watched as several crows put on a show attacking 2 Common Ravens as they passed along the bluffs.  Also today we had a few small flock of Snow Buntings fly overhead.

Things got alittle squirrely at times today...

(courtesy of Paul)

Ann putting peanuts on Paul's backside (courtesy of Helena)

This one thought he'd try Ron's lunch before Ron did (courtesy of Helena)

 

My thanks to all those who braved the cold weather today.  Your help, friendship, and kind offerings were much appreciated.

Yours truly (courtesy of Paul)

Walter

November 11th - They're Comin'

The weather for tomorrow as of 11 Nov 2013 at 9:30 PM...

From The Weather Network: Cloudy periods. High of 1C with a windchill as low as -10C. Windy. Winds from the NW at 30 km/h, gusting to 48 km/h.

From Weather Underground: Clear. High of 0C with a windchill as low as -8C. Windy. Winds from the NW at 25 to 30 km/h.

From Environment Canada: A mix of sun and cloud.  High of 3C with 30 percent chance of flurries in the morning.  Wind northwest 20 km/h.

Let's hope for the best as days are running out!

Walter

November 10th - Perhaps A Little Too Breezy!

Wind from the west all morning and gusting to 60+ km/h are likely the two main reasons that we didn't see any bird migration over Rosetta today.  The wind did switch to NW in the afternoon around 1:00 PM but was probably too late in the day for the birds.

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 4

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 104
Northern Harrier - 123
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1581
Cooper's Hawk - 47
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 14
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 560
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 62
Peregrine Falcon - 52
Total - 4956

All-time Count:
We now need just 100 more birds to reach 50,000!  Can we do it this year?

Here's 2 nice photos that Helena sent along...

 

On-hand today were: Mike 4, Phil, Elias, Mark, Helena, Betty, Carol, Pat & Nancy, Ron, and John.

 

Tuesday is looking like our next decent day, hope to see you at the park.  Bathrooms are now closed for the season.

 

Walter

 

Special Post - Frank's Bench

Since I first mentioned that the installation of Frank's bench was going ahead back on October 22nd sadly not much has happened since.  Only the footings for the concrete foundation have been set.  Hopefully one day soon I'll be able to announce the pouring of the concrete, the bench installation and a little get-together.

Walter

November 8th - 30 Birds, 2 Eagles!

The parade of Red-tailed Hawks that I was hoping for didn't quite happen today but we did have a good variety of hawks fly over the Watch site.  The star of the show was a Golden Eagle which came along shortly after one o'clock.  Our first raptor of the day went by unidentified, I'm now waiting for a photo for review.

After looking at the submitted photo of the unidentified raptor, it turned out to be a Cooper's Hawk.

Today:
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 1
Merlin - 2
Total - 30

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 104
Northern Harrier - 123
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1579
Cooper's Hawk - 47
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 14
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 559
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 62
Peregrine Falcon - 51
Total - 4952

Eagle Time (EST):
01:11 PM - GE immature (non-adult)
01:20 PM - BE immature (non-adult)

Here are some great shots from the day...

Northern Harrier

Red-tailed Hawk

Merlin

Golden Eagle

We tallied up 10 more Loons flying overhead today.  The fox came by for a visit this afternoon.

Here's a beautiful photo that Helena took of our little red friend...

 

Here's a fabulous piece of work that Helena did on her tablet which reflects my excitement of seeing another GE...

 

I would like to thank everyone for a most enjoyable day.  Your help and friendship is always greatly appreciated.

 

Walter

 

November 7th - 5 Birds over 5 Hours!

Again not one of our better days.  The wind seemed to be blowing down from the NW but maybe it was a little too much W.  Cloud cover was good but actually maybe a little too heavy.  Who knows!

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Total - 5

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 103
Northern Harrier - 118
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1577
Cooper's Hawk - 43
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 14
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 544
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 60
Peregrine Falcon - 51
Total - 4922

Here's a couple that I got of the local Red-tailed Hawk today...

 

Only 134 more birds needed to hit the 50,000 mark.

Three loons were seen flying south high overhead.

Kris, Peter, Ron, Betty, Tim, Terry, Berle, and Lee out in the field all did a fine job searching the sky today.

At the time of writing the predicted weather forecast for tomorrow via the Weather Network is calling for 30 km/h NW wind with gusts up to 48 km/h.  Might be a great day!

Walter

November 5th - Beautiful Day!

Well unfortunately today was just too nice of a day for much to fly but I gave it look-see anyway.  Surprisingly not long after I arrived a Merlin flew low over the park.  It was followed shortly thereafter by a Sharpie.  Then we went almost 3 hours before we saw our next 2 Sharpies!  Three butterflies were seen and one of the foxes was sniffin' around the park around lunchtime.

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Merlin - 1
Total - 4

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 103
Northern Harrier - 118
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1574
Cooper's Hawk - 43
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 14
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 542
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 60
Peregrine Falcon - 51
Total - 4917

A late Monarch was observed flying along on the wind heading westward.  A Clouded Sulphur was seen landing in the grass along the top edge of the bluffs before it headed westward and an Orange Sulphur was photographed feeding on some late-blooming Butterfly Bush.

Berle, Terry, Kris, and Cori were at the park today.

Walter

November 3rd - A Little Stronger Wind Please!

Today was a fine example of what happens when you've got good wind direction but not good wind speed.  After reviewing today's report from Cranberry Marsh in Whitby, we saw only one-fifth of the raptors that they saw within roughly the same time period.  Stronger wind would've kept many of their birds much closer to the lake and likely within our view once they passed our area.  It happens!  On a happier note, we did have a beautiful view of 3 Rough-legged Hawks flying along together above us.  Two of the three were dark morph birds.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 6
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 25
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Total - 40

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1663
Osprey - 117
Bald Eagle - 103
Northern Harrier - 118
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1571
Cooper's Hawk - 43
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 14
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 542
Rough-legged Hawk - 15
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 470
Merlin - 59
Peregrine Falcon - 51
Total - 4913

Eagle Time (EST):
11:42 AM - BE immature (non-adult)

Here are a few photos from the day...

Turkey Vulture (Ann)

 

Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk (Elias)

 

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

Rough-legged Hawks (Mike D)

We are now down to just 143 more birds needed to reach the 50,000 mark.  My guess is that 50,000th bird will be a Red-tailed Hawk!

Another 5 migrating Loons were counted this morning.  It would appear that the Monarch migration is now over for the season.  A total of 1467 butterflies were counted between August 29th and October 28th.  This is quite a dramatic decrease in their numbers as we all know.  Hopefully within the next year or two we'll start to see things turn around for these little beauties.

20+ watchers today made the day very enjoyable.  Thank you once again for all of your help.

Walter