Nov 22nd - 14 More Raptors!

Today:
Bald Eagle - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
Total - 14

Eagle Time (EST):
01:21pm - BEx2

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2457
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 108
Northern Harrier - 168
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1467
Cooper's Hawk - 70
Northern Goshawk - 28
Red-shouldered Hawk - 54
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 842
Rough-legged Hawk - 6
Golden Eagle - 11
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 87
Peregrine Falcon - 44
Total - 5912

Four excellent photos of our 28th Northern Goshawk of the season.  This bird sets our new record 'year' count at 28 and our new record 'month' count at 16!

(Arvo)

(Matt)

(Arvo)

 

 (Kris)

 

the first of 2 Bald Eagles (Matt)

 another beautifully marked Red-tailed Hawk (Matt)

People:

Ron, Matt, Betty, Trudy, Bruce, MC, Kris, Dave, Arvo, Mark, Hugh, Lynn, Allison, Diana, and a few others who stopped by.  Thankyou everyone for another fun day of hawk-watching!

Weather Prediction:

Light N and NE until 3pm or so and not quite as cold.  Maybe, just maybe a couple of birds will fly our way.

Walter

Nov 21st - The Past Two Days

Thanks to everyone who has braved the elements the past two days and reported their sightings to me.  I was present on both days (for as long as I could stand the cold) but only saw a lone 'countable' Sharp-shinned Hawk.  Other birders were rewarded with a little more excitement.  This current blast of cold air sure makes up for those days back in August and September when it was 40+ degrees out...and no wind at all!  We certainly do experience the extremes while enjoying the migration of raptors.

Sunday:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1

Today:
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Golden Eagle - 1

Eagle Time (EST):
12:00pm - BE
03:25pm - GE

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2457
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 106
Northern Harrier - 168
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1464
Cooper's Hawk - 70
Northern Goshawk - 27
Red-shouldered Hawk - 54
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 834
Rough-legged Hawk - 6
Golden Eagle - 11
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 87
Peregrine Falcon - 44
Total - 5898

a nice low-flying Bald Eagle (Arvo)

Weather Prediction:
The wind continues to blow from the NW on Tuesday but not near as strong as it has been these past two days.  We should see more of the sun as well.  Hopefully this will result in a bunch more raptors flying over the park.....well, a few more anyway, it is getting late!

See you there!
Walter

Nov 19th - Sunday/Monday Prediction

Although the wind over the course of the next two days will be from the NW, it's likely that it'll be blowing and gusting just a little too strong for any kind of raptor migration.  As hawkwatching is mostly a citizen science, I'll just have to go down to the park to find out if that's true!

From what I've seen from the weather forecasts on television, they don't seem to have the approaching weather system quite figured out as yet.  If the conditions in your area are bad or are going to be bad, please don't bother heading out, it's just not worth it.  Tuesday is still looking good!

Walter

Nov 18th - 2 More Birds!

Today:
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 2

Weather Prediction:
Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday all contain strong NW winds in their forecasts.  Sunday and Monday will have snow off and on during the daytime.  We'll see what happens, stay tuned!

Walter

Nov 16th - 14 People, 3 Birds!

Note:  To anyone that has tried to contact me through the email address walterfisher'at'outlook.com found on this blog, I must apologize for not realizing that the address had been detached from my primary email account some time ago.  As this address is mostly used just for this blog it was never a concern to always check it's functionality on a regular basis.  The problem has now been rectified.

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1
Total - 3

a fairly high-flying 'Sharpie' (Matt)

Red-tailed Hawk (Matt)

our local Merlin with his eye on something (Matt)

People:
Bruce, Dave, Arvo, Rosemary, Matt, Hugh, Pat & Nancy, Ron, Terry, Cori, Trudy, Diana, Ely, and possibly one or two others...lol...I can't remember!

Weather Prediction:
The next few days do not look very promising for migration so it'll hit and miss for me at the park.  Friday being fairly warm will likely get me out to watch for butterflies if nothing else.  Keep your eyes on Sunday and Monday as they look good at present for the big birds.

Walter

Nov 15th - 0 Raptors, 2 Cabbage Whites

During my 90 minute visit to the park mid-day today I saw 2 Cabbage White butterflies, 1 Locust, a whole bunch o' bees and 0 raptors.  Not much else tho.

Weather Prediction:
Light to moderate NW wind for tomorrow with gusts.  Hopefully we'll get a few birds.

See you there,
Walter

Nov 11th - 10 Species Now is a Great Day! (Updated)

Well, after reviewing a number of photos sent to me (and a few to an expert) I think I'm finally ready to post the results for the day.  Not always the easy task!  My thanks to everyone who not only take the 'great' photos that I share here daily but who also take some not-so-great photos (but extremely helpful) of very high-flying or distant birds that we can use to help identify the birds to species.  Some days I don't know where we'd be without all your help.

Any day in November when you've had 10 raptor species, you've had a great day!

Today:
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 42
Golden Eagle - 2
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 61

Eagle Time (EST):
01:20pm - GE
01:25pm - GE
01:55pm - BE
02:06pm - BE

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2457
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 105
Northern Harrier - 168
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1462
Cooper's Hawk - 69
Northern Goshawk - 25 (new record count for Rosetta!)
Red-shouldered Hawk - 54
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 832
Rough-legged Hawk - 6
Golden Eagle - 10
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 86
Peregrine Falcon - 43
Total - 5887

Bald Eagle #1 (Walter)

Bald Eagle #2 (Walter)

Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

our first Golden Eagle of the day (Kris)

a second Golden Eagle being harrassed by a Peregrine Falcon (Kris)

(Birds correctly identified by Jerry Liguori - the author
of Hawks From Every Angle and Hawks At A Distance,
and co-author of The Crossley ID Guide: Raptors)
(a huge thanks to Jerry for the IDs and to Ron P for emailing Jerry with the photos)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

 Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Arvo)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Arvo)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Other Birds:

Common Raven (Arvo)

Butterflies:
Clouded Sulphur - 1

People:
Matt, Lee, Mike D, Dave, Rosemary, Ron & Jean, Alfred, Hugh, Kris, Bob, Arvo, Peter, Cori, Berle, Sophie, Joyce, Lynn, Bruce & Ann Falls, Trudy, Mikal and several other good folks.  Thankyou everyone for the laughs, the food and drink, and of course, the hawk spotting, photographing, and identifying!

Weather Prediction:
Mostly W wind for tomorrow.  I will likely be elsewhere tomorrow.  If you decide to go to Rosetta on Saturday and see any migrating raptors please let me know asap.  My email is: walterfisher 'at' outlook.com

Walter

Nov 10th - A Sharpie and the prediction for Friday

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1

Other Birds:
Common Raven - 1
Great Black-backed Gull - 1

People:
Pat & Nancy, Ron, Arvo, Krista, Carol, Hugh and a few other folks.

Weather Prediction:
Strong wind from the north should bring us birds.  How many?  Who knows!

Walter

Nov 9th - 5 Goshawks, 3 Goldens, and 1 Rough-legged!

Omg, what a day!  A record tying 5 Northern Goshawks, a very low flying Rough-legged Hawk, 3 Golden Eagles kettling together, another Bald Eagle, and a couple of flocks of Snow Geese!  Plus 125 Red-tailed Hawks and a few other goodies!  The wind was actually a little better than predicted in direction and in strength.  A lot of birds were passing overhead at a good comfortable viewing distance while others were passing by at eye-level out over the bluffs.  Cloud cover was good most of the day which helped in spotting the high-flying birds (amazing that none of our bird photos below contain any clouds).  Thanks everyone!

My apologies to those still at the watch when the Golden Eagles flew over.  After taking photos of the high-flying birds I screwed-up big time by telling and showing you that at least one bird was a juvenile Bald Eagle.....we were looking at photos of the 11:20am eagle!  Oops, my bad!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 5
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 5
Northern Goshawk - 5 (ties our 'single day' record from Nov. 2nd, 2012)
Red-tailed Hawk - 125
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Golden Eagle - 3
Total - 151

Eagle Time (EST):
11:20am - BE
03:00pm - GE x3

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2457
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 103
Northern Harrier - 166
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1457
Cooper's Hawk - 67
Northern Goshawk - 22
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 790
Rough-legged Hawk - 6
Golden Eagle - 8
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 85
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5825

a young Northern Goshawk (Walter)

3 high-flying Red-tailed Hawks (Ann)

an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (Arvo)

a beautifully dark-marked Red-tailed Hawk (Arvo)

an interestingly marked Red-tailed Hawk (Arvo)

another Northern Goshawk (Ann)

a young Bald Eagle (Walter)

one of three 3 o'clock high-flyin' Golden Eagles (Walter)

another golden (Walter)

Other Birds:
Snow Goose - 2 flocks flying over high over the park and out over the lake heading south

a fraction of the first flock of Snow Geese heading out over the lake (Walter)

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 1
Clouded Sulphur - 1

People:
Dave, Hugh, Allison, Berle, Arvo, Manny, Ann, Trudy, plus a few others.  Thankyou for all your help once again!

Weather Prediction:
Good SW wind for tomorrow.  Maybe a few Peregrines?

Is this a sign, is this the Pearly Gates?!?! (Walter)

See you at the park!
Walter

Nov 8th - Prediction for Wednesday

Weather Prediction:
Decent wind from the north should bring us birds.  How many?  Who knows!  It's likely they'll be flying high up but at least we'll see 'em and count 'em.

Walter

Nov 8th - Monarch Found in Florida!

One of our tagged Monarchs was found and photographed in Florida recently.

The details follow...

Toronto, ON
Captured by:  Betty McCulloch
Tagged by:  Betty McCulloch
Location:  Rosetta McClain Gardens, Toronto, Ontario
Date:  October 5th, 2016

Monarch tag #:  UGP 958
Sex:  Male
Condition:  5 (pristine)

St. Mark's, FL
Found by:  Jeff Ward
Photographed by:  Jeff Ward
Location:  St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge, St. Mark's, Florida
Date:  November 5th, 2016

UGP 958 in Florida (Jeff W)

The most likely route UGP 958 would have travelled (Walter/Google)

In a message from Jeff, he mentioned that UGP 958 was collected with other roosting Monarchs.  It's tag number, sex, and condition were recorded before it was released again to continue on it's journey.  Florida Fish and Wildlife and St. Mark's National Wildlife Refuge were both informed of this little fellow's long distance flight from the north.

A huge thankyou goes out to Jeff Ward for posting his 'find' to the Migrant Monarch Tag reports blog and congratulations to Terry and Betty for this truely wonderful discovery.

Walter

Nov 5th - More Butterflies Than Birds!!!

Today:
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1
Total - 3

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2452
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 162
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1455
Cooper's Hawk - 62
Northern Goshawk - 17
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 665
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 85
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5674

Other Birds:
Common Raven - 7
Owl sp - 1 (seen rising up briefly over the trees in the distance and towards the apartment building on Glen Everest - first thought to be a Red-tailed Hawk but quickly dismissed by unusual flapping.  Noted 'commas' on wings and slight buffy colouring on the underside.  Just as the bird turned and dropped down below the trees is when I noticed that the bird had a very flat face - likely either Long-eared or Short-eared.

Bugs:
Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 14
Clouded Sulphur - 2
Mourning Cloak - 1
Orange Sulphur - 2

Dragonflies:
Autumn Meadowhawk - 1
Green Darner - 1

a fresh looking Clouded Sulphur (Walter)

People:
Bruce, Hugh, Cori, Sandra & Paul, Dave, Berle, Carol, Mark, and a few other visitors.

Weather Prediction:
Wind from the north during the morning and then switching around to more southerly in the afternoon.

Walter