Sept.22 Wind Shift Day Count:67 YTD 2355

Today the weather changed,which meant a slower day. It was still a wonderful morning,with quality sightings. An Osprey went by with a fish in its tallons,the first time I had ever seen that. Of the 5 Merlins,Ron and I watched at least 2 catch dragonflys on the fly,and gulp them down,followed by dropping the wings. 3 migrating Peregrines which passed us about eyelevel were great sightings. Todays 67 birds included:
Osprey.........................6
Northern Harrier..........5
Sharpshinned Hawk....31
Coopers Hawk............3
American Kestrel........14
Merlin...........................5
Peregrine Falcon............3

Thanks to Ron,JeanMichael and Ziggy for joining me today and for their contributions to the count and enjoyment of the day.
Also seen today were Ruby-crowned Kinglets,Black-throated Green,Black-throated Blue and Nashville Warblers,Ovenbird,Gay-cheecked Thrush,Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,Winter Wren and Brown Creeper(mostly seen by Jean searching,while things were slow).

Sept 21 Another Great Day 252 Raptors..YTD 2278

Today the winds were somewhat unexpectedly from the Northwest again,so myself,Al,Carol,Terry and another Al got to see some great birds. The early morning saw a decent upflight,with 77 birds by 10am and a flurry quickly put me over 100. Harriers were giving fantastic views,and at one point I had 8 in a kettle(yes I made doubley sure they werent Broadwings). Later 7 Broadwings passed through the park low,before kettlling near us. Terry's timing was good,as he arrived as the kettle formed. Final totals included:
Osprey.......................2
Bald Eagle..................2
Northern Harrier........45
Sharpshinned Hawk..127
Coopers Hawk...........7
Nothern Goshawk.......1
Broadwinged Hawk....21
Redtailed Hawk...........7
American Kestrel........40

Sept 20 Record Day Count.. 559 Raptors YTD..2026

An awesome day of raptor watching today,with Northwest winds all day,and a brief rain. Many thanks to Brian,who helped spot and ID for the last 2- 3hours,the extra set of eyes certainly helped. A decent upflight of 46 was seen between 7am and 9am. Things just got better from there. After 10 hours of counting,I averaged almost 56 raptors an hour,or nearly one per minute!
The final tally of 559 Raptors included:
Turkey Vulture...................4
Osprey..............................4
Bald Eagle.........................1(juvenile)
Northern Harrier................48
Sharpshinned Hawk..........282
Coopers Hawk....................7
Broadwinged Hawk............64
Redtailed Hawk...................4
American Kestrel..............142
Merlin.................................2
Peregrine Falcon..................1
This brings my season total to 2026,a total I didnt attain last fall until October 9th.

Sept19 Golden Day... Day Count 239 ...YTD..1467

Today was another fantastic day of raptor watching at Rosetta McClain Gardens. At 11:45am,Carol and I saw a juvenile Golden Eagle. It was very low and very close to us. It barely cleared a ridge of trees along the side of the bluffs,and just above eyelevel no more then 50ft away we spotted it. I hollered EAGLE! and immediately as it flared up,GOLDEN EAGLE. We clearly saw the tail and "armpit" markings. It circled infront of us,and we had spectacular views of it. Eventually it came back gaining a great deal of height. Ron Pittaway was first to spot a juvenile Northern Goshawk,which came low and was definetly on a hunting run into the park. Our final total of 239raptors included:
Opsrey.....................5
Bald Eagle................1
Northern Harrier.....26
Sharpshinned Hawk..126
Coopers Hawk............2
Northern Goshawk......1
Broadwinged Hawk.....1
Redtailed Hawk..........1
Golden Eagle..............1
American Kestrel........69
Merlin.........................5
Peregrine Falcon.........1
This brings my season total to 1467.(112 of which were in August) Tomorrow is shaping up to be another excellent day. Also of interest we saw a waterspout out over Lake Ontario.

Sept 16-18 Count 51 Year To Date 1228

The last few days migration conditions have been poor,and the birds knew it. I was happy to meet Leslie and Mike Kinrys,see old friends Terry and Elizabeth Sheils,meet Art Slack and Len and Mary(?). With varying degrees of success all saw at least a few raptors. Today I managed decent shots of a local(uncounted) American Kestrel and an Osprey which I did my best to follow in focus as it co-operatively circled above the park. The periods sightings included:
Osprey.........................2
Northern Harrier...........2
Sharpshinned Hawk....32
Coopers Hawk.............2
American Kestrel.........13

Hopefully after the rains clear out more great count days will come. The 2 Osprey I saw today put me over 50 for the seasons count.

Sept.15 2006 And So It Continues Day Count 121 YTD 1177

After a few days of very poor conditions and equally poor migration. Thanks to friends Lyn(who spotted one of the eagles),Leon,Carol and Wyatt age 4 (for spotting me a Sharpshinned Hawk) for their help.
Todays sightings included:
Bald Eagle...................2(one 3 year old)
Osprey.......................2
Northern Harrier..........4
Sharpshinned Hawk...94
Coopers Hawk............2
Redtailed Hawk...........3
American Kestrel.......12
Merlin........................2
Todays count of 121,brings my season total to 1177 and for the month of September only,the total is 1065 raptors.

Sept. 11,2006 32 Raptors..YTD..1048

Today I thought the morning flight would be the best. I arrived to find a beautiful sunrise,and the first Osprey of the day went by before the sun had completely risen. Again I had plenty of help,so time passed faster as between birds there was good conversation. Terry,Leon,Colin,Gunner,Mary and Carol all enjoyed at least a few of the great birds,including:
Osprey...............5
Bald Eagle..........5(now seen 26,one more then all of last seasons count)
Norther Harrier...1
Sharpshinned....15
Coopers Hawk....1
Redtailed Hawk...3
American Kestrel.2
3 Bald Eagles came along at the same time,2 very obvious,the 3rd further out,but seen by at least myself,Colin and Leon.

Sept10,2006 Another Good Day 131 Raptors...YTD 1016

Today I enjoyed the company of many birders and I thank them all for their help and for adding to the enjoyment of the day, Special thanks to Leon who spotted 2 of the 6 Bald Eagles. Things slowed down after 1pm today,but not before a good movement of raptors had occured. The days 131 raptors was highlighted by 5 Osprey (a photo shown) and 6 Bald Eagles(3 within 5min of each other,2 being juveniles who circled together putting on a great show.). Later a Sharpie and a Kestrel had a go at each other. Todays count included:
Sharpshinned Hawk......81
Coopers Hawk..............2
American Kestrel..........24
Merlin.............................3
Northern Harrier............8
Redtailed Hawks...........2
Osprey..........................5
Bald Eagle.....................6
Total...........................131
Todays total put me over 1000 raptors since Aug1,which wasnt achieved until October 3rd last year. Its shaping up to be a great season.

September 9,2006 Fantastic Count...Day Count 310...YTD...885

Many thanks to all who dropped by today and enjoyed some fantastic birds. Special Thanks to Colin Horstead,Jean Iron and Ron Pittaway,without whose help my head would have been spinning even more than it did. Todays incredible count included:
Osprey...........12(new one day record)
Bald Eagle........5(4 adults)
Harrier............16
Sharpshins......201
Broadwings......19
Redtailed Hawk..6
Kestrel.............41
Merlin...............10(new one day record)
Sept 9 Total...310
Special sightings included 4 adult Bald Eagles,2 which circled together right over the park. An amazing 12 Osprey and 10 Merlin were tallied which were new one day high totals. Jean spotted a Common Nighthawk and 5 American Black Ducks. My total for this year is now 885,which is one short of last years total as at Sept 30. More help has undoubtedly helped spot more raptors,but I also think this is the first "normal fall" we've had in several years.

Sept.8 Another Good Day 119Raptors..YTD 575

Another great day of raptor watching at Rosetta McClain Gardens. Several folks joined Colin and I today,including Charlie(a frequent Cranberry Marsh attendee),Fred and young Wyatt(aged 4 and a budding birder). Sharing birds with them and several passersby made the day more enjoyable. The most noteworthy bird was a Merlin,which circled beautifully for us,making a few hunting forrays around the park,disappearing back to the east before exiting stage west. At one point it flew very near a Kestrel,giving a wonderful chance to compare,size,colouring,flight cadence and all round gist.
Kestrels were the early birds,later Sharpshinned Hawks were the prevalent bird.
------------------- Todays Totals------------YTD
Bald Eagle ........... ........1.................................10
Turkey Vulture...............0..................................9
Osprey..........................0..................................25
Northern Harrier...........2...................................51
Sharpshinned Hawk.....65................................219
Coopers Hawk.............0....................................11
Broadwinged Hawk......0.....................................50
Redtailed Hawk............1....................................27
American Kestrel.........48..................................164
Merlin...........................2......................................3
Peregrine Falcon...........0.......................................6
Totals........................119....................................575

Sept. 7,2006 A Harrier Than Normal Day 114 Day Count,YTD:456

Today was another terrific day! I was joined today by 3 freinds,Terry whom I know from birding at the Leslie Spit,Jean Irons and Eleanor Beagan. Terry could barely tear himself away,to meet his wife and Jean and Eleanor enjoyed a great afternoon of sightings. Thanks to all of you for your help and commradery.
The birds ...oh ya....todays total 114 raptors,was a great surprise,despite less then optimal conditions again. Todays sightings consisted of:

Osprey....................3
Bald Eagle................2
Northern Harrier......31
Sharpshinned Hawk.45
Redtailed Hawk........4
American Kestrel.....28
Peregrine Falcon.......1
Day Total..............114

Year To Date Total 456

At one point we had 5 Northern Harriers and a few Sharpshins in the air at once. The flow of Harriers was great,and many gave fantastic views around and even below eye level. A very close Osprey gave Terry a thrill,and a Jean,Eleanor and I all enjoyed a very close Redtailed Hawk.
We had a very good shorebird,which flew past giving a good view,even if only Jean could ID it. I was glad to have her expertise,as I just watched the bird clueless as to its ID. Hudsonian Godwit,a life bird for me.
Thousands of Monarchs continued to migrate. Here is an attempt at photos. Eventually I will master raptors in flight! Hey at least I got it in frame!

Sept.6 Doubled My Season Count..172 today YTD 342

On arrival today,I wasnt expecting much raptor action,the weather channel had called for morning rain,and more in afternoon. Id broken away to try some photos of Cedar Waxings in the Mountain Ash trees,it was so slow. By 10:45am I hadnt seen much,so was sitting down having a 10min nap,nodding off and on,when I hear" Your not going to see many birds like that!" As I snapped to,and cleared the haze from my head I saw Colin coming down the garden path. It turned out to be a very good thing Colin did wake me. Between 11 and 11:30am,we got 41 raptors,all started when we got on a lone Redtailed Hawk. Suddenly there were birds joining it,then as I scribbled down what we'd seen Colin says "Ive got a Bald Eagle". Now I hurriedly try to locate it and say "ok Ive got your Eagle and there are 2 Broadwings above it!" Colin replys "I dont see any Broadwings" Frank says "Well your binos are stronger so field of vision is less." Colin "My bird is circling." Frank "Mine is flying straight". Finally we both realized for certain we are on 2 different Eagles.
For an hour,the birds all seemed to be really high and going out over the lake to avoid the big grey clouds. At least 3 times ominous looking grey/black clouds were coming towards us from the north,but each time they broke up before it rained on us,and the birds just kept on coming. By "staying on" birds,suddenly more would appear. We saw one Kestrel,and quickly a 2nd came into view,just as Colin and I both got on to the bird,it snagged a dragonfly,and ate on the wing as it continued onward.
Our final total doubled my year to date count. We saw 172 raptors today,consisting of,
Osprey...........3
Bald Eagle.......3
Harriers..........6
Sharpies........64
Coopers.........2
Broadwings....41
Redtailed.........4
Kestrels.........49

The 41 Broadwinged Hawks today is more then the previous 2 fall seasons totals combined(only 18 in 2005 and 22 in 2005..current year total including todays 41 is now 50) . Preliminarily I attribute this to Colins expert help,and more seasonal weather conditions then the last 2 seasons. Counts of over 100 raptors are special days,this is the earliest Ive had one.
Of special none raptor note...thousands and thousands of Monarch Butterflys moving through,all day long. Every direction we looked we saw Monarchs,they were beautiful,though distracting,as we tried to separate the Monarchs from the birds in our binocular views.