Oct 22nd - Great Winds Bring Great Birds!

A perfect day to be at the Watch!  The first raptors came over the park as the sun was coming up on the horizon.  Our first bird of the day was a Northern Harrier (not surprising!) and before 10:00am we'd tallied-up 20 of them!  We ended the day with a respectable count of 36!  We also had a fabulous day with 22 Red-shouldered Hawks being counted!  Many 'shoulders' were flying either right over us at treetop level or just out over the bluffs at eye level.  They put on a show for the ages!  Six eagles on the day only added to the day's excitement, 4 Balds and 2 Goldens.  A big 'congratulations' goes out to Nancy Barrett for finally seeing her first ever Golden Eagle!  Nancy has been birding for rougly 30 years and although she has tried and tried again, this bad boy had completed eluded her.  Way to go!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 76
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 36
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 115
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 22
Red-tailed Hawk - 156
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 2
Merlin - 2
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 423

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2105
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 139
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1292
Cooper's Hawk - 45
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 35
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 372
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 41
Total - 4782

Eagle Time (DST):
08:09am - BE
08:58am - BE
10:04am - BE
10:15am - GE
10:20am - BE
12:21pm - GE

So many amazing shots of the birds today!  Thankyou!  

Bald Eagle (Ann)

Golden Eagle (Mike D)

young Red-shouldered Hawk (Paul)

an adult male Northern Harrier (Mike D)

a young Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

an adult female Northern Harrier (Paul)

a young Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Northern Harrier (Mike D)

a young Turkey Vulture (Paul)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Golden Eagle (Mike D)

an adult Cooper's Hawk (Paul)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Ann)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

an adult Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Northern Harrier (top), Cooper's Hawk (bottom) (Paul)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

another young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Other Birds:
American Tree Sparrow - a few here and there
Common Raven - 2 low over the park
Eastern Phoebe - 1 or 2
Eastern Towhee - 1
Fox Sparrow - 6
Loon sp - 6
Scoter sp - several big flocks heading out over the lake to the east of the park
Snow Bunting - 1 flying overhead

People:
Paul, Mike, Justin, Hugh, Patty, Bruce F, Ann, Jeff, Peter, Rosemary, Allison, Ron, Eleanor, Nancy & Adam, Phil, Arvo, Mark A, Sheldon, Rick, Berle, Gunnar, Cori, Meera, Sonja, Bruce & Ann Falls, Matt, Mark, MC, Betty, and several others!  A big 'thankyou' to everyone for the support!  There's no way in this world I could've kept track of what was happening by myself.  I really appreciate the help and the company, of course!

 The gang (Ann)

Weather Prediction:
A little less strength to the wind on Sunday...but not by much!  Also, the wind will be blowing a little more from the west.

See you at the Watch,
Walter

Oct 21st - Saturday's Forecast

Weather Prediction:
NW wind blowin' real good and gustin' like crazy!  Hopefully the birds understand what this means!

Note - I'm not sure if the washrooms will be open or not.

Don't forget your bins!

Walter

Oct 19th - No Clouds, Wrong Wind, 162 Birds?!?!

Kind of a surprise to everyone that there were as many birds as there were given the conditions.  Oh well, we'll taken it.  A nice highlight today was seeing 4 Northern Harriers flying together just out over the lake.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 102
Osprey - 1
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 18
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 30
American Kestrel - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Total - 162

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2029
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 103
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1177
Cooper's Hawk - 39
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 216
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 273
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 40
Total - 4359

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - many flying through the park
White-breasted Nuthatch - many flying through and over the park

Butterflies:
American Lady - 1
Cabbage White - 11
Clouded Sulphur - 2
Fiery Skipper - 2
Monarch - 30 (5 tagged), current cumulative count - 4552 (976 tagged)
Orange Sulphur - 4

People:
Sophie, Peter, Dave, Pat & Nancy, Carol, Hugh, Berle, Betty, Terry, Joyce, and Trudy.  Thank you everyone for your help finding, pointing out, and ID'ing most of today's high-flyers.

Weather Prediction:
Rain with a bit of rain mixed-in!  See you when it stops.

Walter

Oct 18th - 7 Peregrine Falcons!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 18
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Peregrine Falcon - 7
Total - 28

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1927
Osprey - 58
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 98
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1159
Cooper's Hawk - 38
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 186
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 270
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 38
Total - 4197

Other Birds:
Fox Sparrow - 1
Scoter sp - large group of 50-60 flying north to south over the park and dropping low out over the lake

Butterflies:
Monarch - 1
Orange Sulphur - 1

People:
Lee, Carol, Allison, Trudy, Hugh, Betty, Terry, plus a few others who stopped by.

Weather Prediction:
W switching to SW wind for tomorrow.

Walter

Oct 17th - Tuesday's Forecast

Weather Prediction:
Very strong SW wind tomorrow.  That may bring Peregrines, Merlins, and maybe a few late Osprey our way.

Walter

Oct 15th - Beautiful Day, Few Birds

Today:
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 5
Total - 9

Northern Harrier (Ann)

Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Turkey Vulture (Ann)

Other Birds:
American Crow - 50!
Red-bellied Woodpecker - 1

 Just some of the murder of crows (Ann)

Weather Prediction:
Rain most of the day!

Walter

Oct 14th - Lucky 13!

A big thankyou to those who were at the Watch and counting birds during the morning hours.  I arrived around 12:30pm and saw nothing during the afternoon.  I stayed until 5:00pm!

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 13

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1909
Osprey - 58
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 96
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1154
Cooper's Hawk - 38
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 181
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 270
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 31
Total - 4160

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - a few small groups appeared to be moving through the park

Butterflies:
Monarch - 1
Orange Sulphur - 1
Silver-spotted Skipper - 1 (another late sighting for the GTA)

People:
Trudy, Lee, Betty, Arvo, Terry, Ron, Blane, Dave, and Peter.  Thanks everyone for hanging in there today!

These little beauties flew by twice today (Arvo)

Weather Prediction:
Wind is from the south tomorrow.  Not very good for migration unfortunately.

Walter

Oct 13th - From Harrier To Harrier

Our first bird of the day was a Northern Harrier and so was our last.  In-between those two we had 315 other raptors today.  A late day push of Vultures helped to improved our count for the day somewhat.  My thanks to everyone for another fun day at the office!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 164
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 111
Cooper's Hawk - 5
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 23
American Kestrel - 4
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 317

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1909
Osprey - 58
Bald Eagle - 90
Northern Harrier - 96
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1142
Cooper's Hawk - 38
Northern Goshawk - 2
Red-shouldered Hawk - 13
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 181
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 270
Merlin - 81
Peregrine Falcon - 30
Total - 4147

Eagle Time (DST):
01:10 - BE
02:42 - BE

our first eagle of the day! (Arvo)

a young Peregrine with a transmitter attached (Arvo)

(click on the photo to see the wire under it's tail)

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - several moving through the trees
Blue Jay - many flocks still flying over the park
Loon sp - 7
Red-necked Grebe - 1

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 5
Monarch - 2 (0 tagged)

People:
Trudy, Kris, Manny, Ron, Rosemary, Allison, Arvo, Betty, Glen, Eleanor, Bruce, Jean, Berle, Carol, Bruce Falls and family, Joyce, Vickie and Diane, and many others.  Thankyou for all your help!

Weather Prediction:
Mostly moderate SW wind for tomorrow.

See you at the park,
Walter

Oct 12th - Another Slow Day!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 5

local Red-tailed Hawk (Arvo)

Peregrine Falcon (Arvo)

Butterflies:
Monarch - 7 (3 tagged)

People:
Trudy, Arvo, Carol, Terry, and Bruce G.

Weather Prediction:
Wind is NW 30kms and gusting to 53kms!  Perfect conditions!  Let's hope the birds read that!

Notice:
Washrooms at the park will now be closed at 3:00pm...unless there is someone working the afternoon shift.

See you there!
Walter

Oct 11th - Light SE Wind, Very Slow Today

Today:
Red-tailed Hawk - 2
Merlin - 1
Total - 3

Butterflies:
Monarch - 5 (1 tagged)

People:
Trudy, Sophie, Hugh, Terry, Betty, Bruce G, Carol, plus a few others.  Thankyou!

Weather Prediction:
SW and S wind for tomorrow.  Maybe a Peregrine Falcon or two, who knows!  Thursday is looking good (at present) for a decent movement of raptors.  Stay tuned!

Walter

Oct 10th - More Vultures, Eagles & Hawks!

I must apologize again, at the time of writing it's 2:30am!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 317
Bald Eagle - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 19
Total - 347

To Date:

Turkey Vulture - 1743

Osprey - 58

Bald Eagle - 88

Northern Harrier - 92

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1030

Cooper's Hawk - 33

Northern Goshawk - 1

Red-shouldered Hawk - 12

Broad-winged Hawk - 236

Red-tailed Hawk - 156

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 1

American Kestrel - 266

Merlin - 78

Peregrine Falcon - 28

Total - 3822

Eagle Time (DST):

10:34am - BE

10:44am - BE

11:43am - BE

12:36pm - BE

01:01pm - BE

Bald Eagle (Mike D)

a high-flyin' Bald Eagle (Mike D)

Broad-winged Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

the local Cooper's Hawk (Paul)

Other Birds:

Loon sp - 1

Snow Goose - 2

Hermit Thrush (Paul)

 a young Yellow-rumped Warbler (Paul)

Butterflies:

Clouded Sulphur - 3

Fiery Skipper - 2

Monarch - 7 (1 tagged)

Orange Sulphur - 1

People:

Phil, Ron, Mark, Sophie, Norm, Ivor, Jean, Bob, Trudy, Berle, Mike & Leslie, Paul, Mike D, Hugh, Sheldon, Sonja, Elias, Eleanor, and a few others.  Thankyou for another wonderful day.

Weather Prediction:

A bit of a mixed bag for wind direction tomorrow.  There is an hour or so of NW wind, so who knows.

Walter

Oct 9th - Now That's More Like It!!!

Sorry, too tired to comment!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1161
Osprey - 2
Bald Eagle - 4
Northern Harrier - 7
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 163
Cooper's Hawk - 7
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 8
Red-tailed Hawk - 87
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 32
Merlin - 5
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 1481

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 1426

Osprey - 58

Bald Eagle - 83

Northern Harrier - 92

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1029

Cooper's Hawk - 33

Northern Goshawk - 1

Red-shouldered Hawk - 8

Broad-winged Hawk - 235

Red-tailed Hawk - 137

Rough-legged Hawk - 0

Golden Eagle - 1

American Kestrel - 266

Merlin - 78

Peregrine Falcon - 28

Total - 3475

Eagle Time (DST):

11:30am - BE

12:08pm - GE

01:45pm - BE

03:25pm - BE

04:22pm - BE

So many great photos!

Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

Osprey (Lee)

Peregrine Falcon (Mike D)

Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Osprey (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

Golden Eagle (Mike D)

Cooper's Hawk (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Paul)

Turkey Vulture (Paul)

Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Paul)

Other Birds:

Common Raven - 4

Eastern Bluebird - a few flying overhead

Loon sp - 28

Snow Goose - 3

a migrating Blue Jay (Ann)

3 Snow Geese flying with a couple of Canadas (Ann)

Butterflies:

Monarch - 23 (no tagging)

People:

Phil, Mike D, Paul, Ron, Manfred, Sonja, Jean, Bruce & Ann Falls, Richard, Bruce, Lee, Hugh, Matt, Betty, Allison, Berle, Ann, and many others.  Thankyou for ALL your help today!

 Oh no, there goes Lee! (Ann)

Weather Predicion:

Lighter N and NE wind tomorrow.  Might bring even more birds our way!

See you there,

Walter