October 5th - Overcast Day With Little Movement

There was an ENE element to the wind this morning which gave us hope but that was quickly dashed when the wind started blowing in from out over the lake.  Most birds that we saw were flying fairly high up and were nothing more than silhouettes.  The three Falcon species were quite tough to ID today without photos.  My thanks to Mike Dizonno for snapping shots of them as they flew by.  One nice highlight was seeing 3 Northern Harriers flying along together across the sky.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Cooper's Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 20

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 668
Osprey - 112
Bald Eagle - 93
Northern Harrier - 77
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1239
Cooper's Hawk - 26
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 67
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 454
Merlin - 37
Peregrine Falcon - 25
Total - 2937

These photos were taken by Mike Dizonno...

Osprey

Northern Harriers

Cooper's Hawk

Turkey Vulture

American Kestrel

This morning we witnessed several small flocks of Mergansers flying down from the north as well as 5 more Loons.  A big surprise today especially with the lousy overcast conditions was the Monarch migration.  Another 44 'Butterhawks' were counted.

Movers and shakers today included, Lorne, Bob, Mike 3, Manny, Carol, Bruce, Peter, John, and Sheldon.  Thanks for all your help, not an easy day.

Walter

October 4th - Rain Day

I didn't make it down to the Watch today due to the rain showers.  If anyone did go and saw any birds please let me know.

Walter

October 3rd - 5 Birds, 5 Species

We had some great cloud cover up high today but few birds were flying.  The Kestrel that was seen flapped it's way across our viewing area making me think that it was a shorebird.  With low wind, the bird was definitely working to get where it was going.

Today:
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 5

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 667
Osprey - 110
Bald Eagle - 93
Northern Harrier - 72
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1237
Cooper's Hawk - 24
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 67
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 449
Merlin - 35
Peregrine Falcon - 24
Total - 2917

There were another 39 Monarch counted today.

Ron, Carol, Arvo, and Berle were at the park enjoying the day.

Rain is on the way for the next few days.

Walter

October 2nd - Another 147 Birds!

Not the best conditions once again today but the birds came by at a fairly steady pace which kept the spotters busy.  A real nice highlight was when Ann, who was walking around looking for songbirds, stumbled upon a young Peregrine Falcon feeding on a Pigeon up in a tree in a neighbouring yard.  We quickly determined that the bird was a migrating northern bird.  The lack of any bands on the legs was a good clue that it wasn't a 'local'.  In the photo below you'll see that the Pigeon that the Peregrine is feeding on has got a red leg band.  It's likely a 'racing' bird.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 90
Osprey - 2
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 25
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 4
American Kestrel - 17
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 147

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 667
Osprey - 110
Bald Eagle - 93
Northern Harrier - 71
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1236
Cooper's Hawk - 23
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 67
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 448
Merlin - 35
Peregrine Falcon - 23
Total - 2912

Eagle Time (EDT):
12:19 PM - BE immature (non-adult)
12:38 PM - BE immature (non-adult)

Here are a few of Ann's photos from today...

Red-tailed Hawk

 

A very successful young Peregrine Falcon

 

We counted 1 Loon flying overhead as well as another 93 Monarchs (Butterhawks).

Kris, Bill, Betty, Arvo, Terry, Manny, Ann, Cori, Berle, Peter, Carol, and a few others did another fabulous job finding birds up in the blue.  Thanks!

Note: The section entitled Current Count which appeared in the left-hand column of the blog has been removed as it had stopped updating for some reason.

Walter

October 1st - 33 Birds!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 13
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 33

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 577
Osprey - 108
Bald Eagle - 91
Northern Harrier - 70
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1211
Cooper's Hawk - 21
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 63
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 431
Merlin - 34
Peregrine Falcon - 20
Total - 2765

A few nice shots from Ann's camera...

Sharp-shinned Hawks

Red-tailed Hawk

Peregrine Falcon

There was another sighting of a Red-headed Woodpecker and also today we had a female Fiery Skipper (butterfly) in the main garden.  This is butterfly species number 24 for the fall at Rosetta.  We tallied up 67 migrating Monarchs as well.

Fiery Skipper

Scanning the sky

 

And one from me...

 

Zoomies Man

Mike, Pat & Nancy, Kris, Betty, Manny, Cori, Arvo, Ann, Peter, and Terry were by for some of today's fly-overs.

There is WNW and W winds in tomorrow's forecast from 15-20 km/h.

Walter

September 29th - One Peregrine!

Just one Peregrine Falcon in five hours of searching.

Walter

September 28th - Just the facts...

...on an east wind day.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 7

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 564
Osprey - 108
Bald Eagle - 91
Northern Harrier - 68
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1204
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 428
Merlin - 33
Peregrine Falcon - 16
Total - 2731

Eagle Time (EDT):
11:06 AM - BE immature (non-adult)

Others:
Monarchs - 14

Bob, Arvo, John, Freida, Norm, Betty, Susan & Frank

Walter

September 27th - More Of The Same...

All-blue sky, light wind - wrong direction, few birds!  Other than that, it was a beautiful day!

Today:
Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Merlin - 2
Total - 6

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 562
Osprey - 108
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 68
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1201
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 427
Merlin - 33
Peregrine Falcon - 16
Total - 2724

Here's a couple of photos that I got today of our local Red-tailed Hawk looking for lunch...

Ruby-crowned Kinglets are now being seen mixed in with the Golden-crowns.  37 Monarchs were counted today.

Mike 3, Berle, Arvo, Terry, Bruce, and Manny were on-hand to keep me awake!  LOL

With more of the same weather forecasted for tomorrow, it's very likely that I'll be exiting the park early.

Walter

Special Post - A Park on the Edge

Back in the first or second week of August a young lady named Jessica Nelson approached me at the park and was very interested in knowing about the Raptor Watch.  She also wanted to know about the gardens and the history of the park.  Rosetta McClain Gardens: A Park on the Edge is a terrific profile of the park that she did for a Toronto Real Estate blog.  On behalf of the staff and us at the Watch, I'd like to say thank you.  Please visit again soon.

Walter

September 26th - 4 Peregrine Falcons!

With similar skies and winds again today I wasn't really sure if we were going to seen anything at all.  Surprisingly two Osprey started off the day but again the rest of the birds were few and far between.  Four Peregrine Falcons were the highlight of the day.

Today:
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 4
Total - 13

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 562
Osprey - 107
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 68
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1198
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 427
Merlin - 31
Peregrine Falcon - 16
Total - 2718

63 Monarchs were counted today.  Also, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is our latest addition to the fall Bird List.

Thanks to all involved including: Trudy, Cori, Ron, Betty, Richard, Berle, Carol, Terry, Ann, and Lee who was out and about.

Walter

September 25th - Just 5 Birds

We had excellent whispy cloud cover high up for several hours today but unfortunately we couldn't find anything flying along. We counted just 5 birds in the span of 6 hours.

Today:
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 5

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 562
Osprey - 105
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 67
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1193
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 426
Merlin - 31
Peregrine Falcon - 12
Total - 2705

The only shot that I took today...

Osprey

 

Our big highlight of the day was a Pileated Woodpecker.  A few people saw only a quick glimpse of it as it moved across the area.  It was heard calling from several locations, the last being the parkette behind the Arts Council.

Ron, Trudy, Betty, Arvo, Manny, and a few others helped out with today's watch.

Walter

September 24th - 4 More Eagles!

Sorry, this is getting very repetitive but it was another all-blue sky today.  Not one single cloud was seen overhead.  Spotting was extremely difficult at best.  By mid-morning we had started to see a few kettles of Turkey Vultures and a couple of Bald Eagles but then things abruptly stopped almost completely for the day.  Only one Sharpie and an Osprey were seen in the afternoon.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 72
Osprey - 2
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 1
Total - 90

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 562
Osprey - 104
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 66
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1191
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 139
Red-tailed Hawk - 61
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 426
Merlin - 31
Peregrine Falcon - 11
Total - 2700

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:33 AM - BE adult
10:45 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
10:57 AM - BE immature (non-adult)
11:40 AM - BE immature (non-adult)

For anyone keeping score, I've added a Peregrine Falcon to yesterday's count after seeing a couple of photos that Cori took late in the afternoon.  The bird was circling over the parking lot as we were about to leave yesterday and Cori was able to snap a few decent photos of it.

Here's a couple of photos courtesy of me...

Bald Eagle #89

 

Bald Eagle #90

 

Here's 2 shots courtesy of Richard Sigesmund...

 

Bald Eagle #90 

 

A Merlin having a feeble go at a Monarch

More than 100 Monarch butterflies were seen today.  Also, many Cabbage White butterflies, Orange Sulphur butterflies, and dragonflies of various species were in the air.  One of the foxes came strolling through the gardens this afternoon adding some excitement to the day.

Another shot from me...

Red Fox

Watchers and waiters today included: Kris, Richard, Lorne, Effie, Carol, Berle, Betty, Terry, Ron, Hugh, Manny, and Trudy.  Thank you!

Walter