Sep 24th - 12 More Eagles!!!

Thanks to the heads-up from Tyler H last night we stood and starred up at the all-blue sky overhead today searching and searching for eagles.  We found twelve of them!  The blue sky made finding and viewing the birds extremely difficult, in fact many birds were spotted after they'd flown by us.  Yes, at times we were standing facing west and watching for birds that were flying from the east!  LOL!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 94
Osprey - 4
Bald Eagle - 12
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 24
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 2
Total - 147

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 135
Osprey - 48
Bald Eagle - 76
Northern Harrier - 63
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 601

Cooper's Hawk - 16

Northern Goshawk - 0

Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 24

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 174

Merlin - 54

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1430

Eagle Time (DST):

09:37am - BE

10:28am - BE

11:08am - BE

11:21am - BEx2

11:48am - BE

12:23pm - BE

12:26pm - BE

12:41pm - BE

02:00pm - BE

02:04pm - BE

02:15pm - BE

a sub-adult Bald Eagle (Mike D)

American Kestrel (Lee)

local Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Osprey (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

a young Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

a juvenile Northern Harrier (Mike D)

another gorgeous Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

a high-flying Bald Eagle (Walter)

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - several hundred heading southwest over the park

Canada Goose - several flocks of various sizes heading south over the lake

Golden-crowned Kinglet - many

Loon sp - 8

Rusty Blackbird - 2

Snow Goose - a few large flocks heading south over the lake

Butterflies:

Fiery Skipper - 1

Monarch - 44 (12 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 3

Misc:

The Goodyear Blimp provided arial coverage of the Raptor Watch today! (Lee)

Dare to dream!!! 

(actually it was just heading downtown for the hockey game)

People:

Many people were at the Watch today including Lee

Weather Prediction:

There'll be a couple of hours of NE wind to start the day tomorrow but that will quickly change to E wind before the morning ends.

Walter

Sep 23rd - Too Much Rain Today!

Today's numbers would've been quite a bit higher if it wasn't for all the rain.  Every time we thought it was going to stop, it would just get a little stronger again.  Anyway, we spent a few cold but enjoyable hours sitting under the big ol' Maple talking and waiting for it to pass.

Today:
Osprey - 7
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10
Cooper's Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 15
Merlin - 6
Total - 44

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 41
Osprey - 44
Bald Eagle - 64
Northern Harrier - 60
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 577
Cooper's Hawk - 14

Northern Goshawk - 0

Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 23

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 169

Merlin - 52

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1283

Eagle Time (DST):

11:02am - BE

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - hundreds, mostly before the rain started

Great Blue Heron - 6

Loon sp - 9

Warbler sp - seemed like a number were around but impossible to ID under such a dark sky

Butterflies:

Monarch - 6 (no tagging today)

People:

Mark, Terry, Markus, and one other hawk watcher.  Thankyou!!!

Weather Prediction:

Looks like a number of hours of NE wind tomorrow before switching around.  Remember, NE wind is great but the birds will be flying much higher up!  Bring your best binoculars!

Check out the comment left by Tyler Hoar below, very encouraging!

Walter

Sep 22nd - Much of The Same Today

Today:
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 64
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 6
Total - 77

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 41
Osprey - 37
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 58
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 567
Cooper's Hawk - 11
Northern Goshawk - 0

Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 23

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 154

Merlin - 46

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1239

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - a few 1000!!!

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1

Red-tailed Hawk - 1 local

Songbird sp - very few have been noted in the last few days

Great action shot!  The Jays were bombing this Merlin late in the afternoon  (Lee)

Butterflies:

Monarch - 150 estimated (21 tagged)

My current 'Monarch Migration Count' stats show the following...

Counted - 3510

Tagged - 798

People:

Mark, Don, Arvo, Dave, Kevin, Allison, Sophie, Carol L, Terry, Betty, Carol P, Jeff and Carol, plus several others who stopped by.  Thankyou all for your friendship and help!

Weather Prediction:

Although the wind is blowing down from the north tomorrow, there is 40%-60% change of rain during the morning hours.  We'll have to wait and see what unfolds.

Walter

Sep 21st - A Few Hawks and Butterflies

Today:
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 11
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Merlin - 2
Total - 17

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 41
Osprey - 36
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 56
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 503
Cooper's Hawk - 10

Northern Goshawk - 0

Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 23

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 151

Merlin - 40

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1162

Merlin (Walter)

Other Birds:

Belted Kingfisher - 1 flying low over the park and heading north

Blue Jay - hundreds passing over the park again today

Butterflies:

American Lady - 1

Black Swallowtail - 1

Clouded Sulphur - 4

Eastern Tailed Blue - 1

Fiery Skipper - 2 or 3

Monarch - 200 estimated (52 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

Wild Indigo Duskywing - 1

 A fresh female Fiery Skipper (Walter)

People:

Trudy, Mark, Lee, Arvo, Norm, Terry, Betty, Leonardo, Peter, Allison, Carol, Sophie, Mikal, and a few others including a gentleman from the Cranberry Hawk Watch (sorry I didn't get your name) and Marty & Ginny (birders visiting Toronto from Madison, Wisconsin).  Today's Osprey flew low and straight over the center of the park while Marty and I were chatting.  Nice of the bird to demonstrate the terrific view we get at Rosetta of the hawks.  Also many Blue Jays were passing by low overhead as well during their time with us.

Weather Prediction:

South wind tomorrow!  Maybe a Jaeger out on the lake?!!!

Walter

Sep 20th - Quite the Day!

Not a lot of raptors today but it was an interesting day to sit and observe nature as it unfolded all around us.

The first few hours of the day started with a couple of thousand Blue Jays, a whole bunch of Cedar Waxwing flocks, and many American Goldfinches flying over the park and heading south for the winter.  There were a few other odd birds thrown-in but yours truly couldn't get on them fast enough with the camera or the binoculars.

At 10 o'clock sharp the Monarch migration through Rosetta got underway.  Up until that time we hadn't seen and single one!  They started off slowly but before long they were moving along the bluffs one after another.  One of the things that we noticed today while watching and counting the butterflies flying overhead was that a number of them seemed to be accompanied by a dragonfly.  They appeared to be flying as a team.  Not sure if there has been any scientific study done on this phenomenon or not but it sure looked like something was happening up there with the two of them.  Later in the afternoon not only did the Monarch migration really pick-up but we also had a small movement of both species of Sulphur butterflies - Clouded and Orange.  These are species that have not been seen in big numbers this season.

While we're on the subject of butterflies, in particular the Monarchs - Terry and Betty, with help from Bruce Grubbe, and Peter Attfield had their best day ever for tagging the little gems.  Working together as a team they were able to capture, tag, and release an unbelievable 107 Monarchs!  The only reason they arrived at this number was because they actually ran out of tags!  Who knows how high their bar could've been set if they hadn't depleted their sticker stock.  Congratulations on a record setting day!

As for the raptors - we had only counted a handful early in the morning but as we got in to the late afternoon and as the winds picked-up, so did the birds.  Thankfully that left us with a far more respectable count for the day.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 31
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 6
Total - 47

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 41
Osprey - 35
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 54
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 492
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0

Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 23

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 151

Merlin - 38

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1145

American Kestrel (Paul)

A local Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

 A 'Sharpie' (Sharp-shinned Hawk) with a full crop (Paul)

Other Birds:

American Goldfinch - many small flocks flying overhead in the morning

Blue Jay - a few thousand flying overhead mostly in the morning and late afternoon

Cedar Waxwing - many small flocks flying overhead in the morning

Butterflies:

Clouded Sulphur - 18

Eastern Tailed Blue - 3

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - an estimated 600 (107 tagged!)

Orange Sulphur - 5

People:

Trudy, Matt, Betty, Bruce, Berle, Dave, Terry, Don, Manny, Arvo, Paul, Janice, Liz, and several others who stopped and checked us out.  Thankyou everyone for another wonderful day!

Weather Prediction:

SW wind for Wednesday!  Might be okay for a few birds to fly on!

See you along the fence,

Walter

Sep 19th - Let's Go Blue Jays!

Today:
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 28
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 30

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 35
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 53
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 461
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 146

Merlin - 32

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1098

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - Hundreds flying over today!

Cooper's Hawk - 1 local

Merlin - 1 local

Red-tailed Hawk - 1 local

Rose-breasted Grosbeak - 1 (flyover)

Butterflies:

Fiery Skipper - 1

Monarch - 36 (0 tagged)

People:

Peter, Carol, Berle, Lee, Mark, Dave, and Matt.  Thanks everyone!

Weather Prediction:

I'm hoping that tomorrow's W wind has a little NW in it...as in WNW!  Fingers crossed!

Walter

Sep 18th - 10 Raptors and the Lanc!

Today:
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 2
Total - 10

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 35
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 52
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 433
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0

Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 145

Merlin - 32

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1068

Merlin (Lee)

Northern Harrier (Arvo)

 Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Butterflies:
Black Swallowtail - 1 (caterpillar)
Fiery Skipper - 1
Monarch - 100 (19 tagged)

The very beautiful Black Swallowtail caterpillar (Arvo)

Birds of the Metal Kind:

Lancaster Bomber (Arvo)

People:
Mark, Arvo, Peter, Mike & Leslie, Ron, Sarah and her dad Bruce, Norm, Nancy & Adam, Lee, Charles, Betty, and several others who popped in.  Thankyou everyone for a great day!

Walter

Sep 16th - Another Bald Eagle!

Thankyou to those who visited and reported from the hawk watch after I left at 2:00pm.  Sometimes life gets in the way of fun.  The day was a little slow with wrong wind and all blue sky but it was enjoyable being there nonetheless.

Today:
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 1
Total - 9

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 34
Bald Eagle - 63
Northern Harrier - 49
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 431
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 233

Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 143

Merlin - 30

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1058

Merlin (Lee)

One of possibly 3 local Red-tailed Hawks (Lee)

The attacking Jays might've got this Merlin's tail feather! (Lee)

 

 The Jays did not take to kindly to this Merlin hanging around their park (Lee)

 Merlin (Lee)

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - A good number were on the move migrating today

Butterflies:

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - 30 (12 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

Mammals:

Raccoon - 7

People:

Lee, Trudy, Terry, Betty, Manny, Berle, Tim, Jessica L (from Quest Nature Tours), Bruce G (visiting for Sudbury).  At the time of writing, it's Saturday afternoon, so I apologize to anyone I may have forgotten.

Weather Prediction:

All-day rain for Saturday!

Walter

Sep 15th - Wind Makes All the Difference!

Today:
Osprey - 3
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Merlin - 5
Total - 12

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 34
Bald Eagle - 62
Northern Harrier - 49
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 426
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 233
Red-tailed Hawk - 21

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 141

Merlin - 29

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1049

Other Birds:

Brown Creeper - a few

Warbler sp - a few

Bugs:

Monarch - 38 (5 tagged)

A female Yellow Garden Spider (Walter)

People:

Hugh, Betty, Bruce Falls and family, Arvo, Norm, Irv, Linda, Kevin, Berle, Dave, Monika, Terry, plus several others.

Weather Prediction:

Mostly E and SE wind for Friday.  Not very good for migration!

Walter

Sep 14th - A Late-day Push of Eagles

A dark overcast threatening sky made for a slow start to today's hawk watch but once things finally got underway all was grand!  Today's flight basically was from far over Kingston Road to way out over the lake, birds were flying everywhere...and many were high up!  A nice finishing touch to the day was when we counted 8 Bald Eagles in the span of 37 minutes.  They crossed the sky high up above the center of the park flying along an invisible line like Red-tailed Hawks usually do later in the season.  Always spectacular to see!

I said to Hugh early this morning that my prediction for the day was that we'd see 350 birds, we missed it by 4 birds!  Not too shabby, if I do say so myself!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 13
Osprey - 7
Bald Eagle - 10
Northern Harrier - 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 177
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 56
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
American Kestrel - 57
Merlin - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 346

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 39
Osprey - 31
Bald Eagle - 62
Northern Harrier - 48
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 424
Cooper's Hawk - 9
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 232
Red-tailed Hawk - 21
Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 141

Merlin - 24

Peregrine Falcon - 6

Total - 1037

Eagle Time (DST):

12:55pm - BE

02:41pm - BE

03:43pm - BEx2

03:57pm - BEx2

04:02pm - BE

04:05pm - BE

04:16pm - BE

04:20pm - BE

 A beautiful young Northern Harrier (Ann)

 An American Kestrel (Ann)

A low flying Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Other Birds:

American Goldfinch - many small flocks

Blue Jay - several small flocks

Canada Goose - a few small flocks

Cedar Waxwing - several small flocks

Loon sp - 6

Red-bellied Woodpecker - another quick flyover!

Ruby-throated Hummingbird - several still flying through

Butterflies:

Clouded Sulphur - 1

Common Buckeye - 1 flying overhead

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - 1000 estimated (43 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

Fiery Skipper (Lynn)

Celery Looper Moth (Lynn)

Mammals:

American Red Fox - 1 (seen recently by park staff)

People:

Hugh, Bruce F, Kris, Jean, Ron, Betty, Berle, Dave, Ann, Norm, Carol, Kevin, Terry, Bruce G, Lee, Eleanor, Lynn, Mike D, Manny, our remote spotter this morning Sarah, plus several others who stopped by.  Thankyou everyone!

HMCS Ville de Québec (Ann)

Weather Prediction:

Tomorrow we have NE wind and sunny skies which will make spotting the hawks a bit of a challange.  Bring your chair!

Keep lookin' up!

Walter

Sep 13th - They Were Arriving by the Bus Load Today!!!

No, not birds.....children.....lots of them!!!  Today we had the great pleasure of hosting 2 bus loads of 6th graders from St Bridget Catholic School in Brooklin (North Whitby).  Terry had organized the visit through a friend (a teacher at the school) to bring the classrooms down to Rosetta today to learn all about butterfly and hawk migration.  Terry setup 4 stations around the park - one for tagging Monarchs by the rose gardens, one for tagging Monarchs in the main gardens by the fountain, one for learning about plants and trees, and one for learning about hawks and hawk watching.  The kids were split up in to 4 small groups and they rotated from station to station on a timed basis.  The plan worked perfectly!  For our hawk watching station unfortunately it was not a great day for viewing migrating birds of prey but with the help of Ann and Hugh, the three of us were at least able to explain the migration, show photos of the various raptors, show feathers of a few birds, and answer a lot of really tough questions.  The kids were quite keen to learn and also shared with us a lot of their own nature experiences from closer to home.  Not once today did I hear the word 'Pokemon' - LOL!  Anyway, a big 'thankyou' to all the children, the teachers, and their helpers for coming to down to Rosetta and making our day so special.  We loved having you!  Also, a big 'thankyou' to Terry, Betty, Bruce, Ann, Hugh, Carol, and the couple that were doing the plants and trees (sorry I didn't get your names) for making our visitors feel so welcomed and for sharing everything you could about what we do and see with them.  Hope you all had a fun-filled day!

A few lovely photos of the day from Ann...

Now on to the facts and figures...

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 7
Merlin - 3
Total - 10

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 24
Bald Eagle - 52
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 247
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 176
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0

American Kestrel - 84

Merlin - 21

Peregrine Falcon - 5

Total - 691

A Sharp-shinned Hawk in a stoop! (Ann)

Other Birds:

Blue Jay - With a few flocks flying over this morning it appears that their migration has started.

Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1 (quickest view ever!)

An interesting sighting that Hugh and I had today was of a Northern Flicker which was being chased by a Merlin at high speed and only a foot or so above the path beside us where we stand.  It was over in the blink of an eye - the Flicker turned and headed out along the bluffs eastward and the Merlin continued on his way westward.

Butterflies:

Monarch - 75 (24 tagged)

People:

Hugh, Allison, Ann, Carol, Berle, Terry, Betty, Bruce, the St Bridget gang, plus a few others that stopped by including a lovely family that have been visiting from England.

Weather Prediction:

Good gusting NW and N winds tomorrow!  Might be a spot of rain between 7-9am.

We'll likely see more Broad-winged Hawks flying low over the park but we'll also focus some of our attention to the north in hopes of spotting a decent-sized kettle of them rising up above the trees!  Fingers crossed!

See you at the park!

Walter

Sep 12th - Blue Sky, No Wind, Few Raptors Again!

Today:
Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 7

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 26
Osprey - 24
Bald Eagle - 52
Northern Harrier - 37
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 240
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 176
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 84

Merlin - 18

Peregrine Falcon - 5

Total - 681

Butterflies:

Monarch - 150 (21 tagged)

Of interest - Jackie R, who found and photographed one of our tagged Monarchs on the Toronto Islands a few weeks back came out to visit us at Rosetta today.  She wanted to meet Terry and Betty, watch a few butterflies get tagged and released, enjoy the gardens, and also visit with us along the fence watching for hawks.  This afternoon after leaving Rosetta Jackie was down at Woodbine Beach and low and behold, found and photographed another one of our Monarchs!  Monarch 'WPA 255' was tagged and released at the park today at 11:05am!  Thankyou Jackie, the Rosetta gang enjoyed meeting you today!

WPA 255 was photographed at Woodbine Beach today,

the same day that it was tagged at Rosetta! (Jackie)

People:

Kevin, Dave, Dan, Ron, Jean, Hugh, Terry, Betty, and a few others who stopped by to say 'hello'.

Weather Prediction:

SW wind on Tuesday.

Walter