Nov 4th - Another Beautiful Day!

Oh my, what a beautiful day to be at the park enjoying the weather, the company, and the birds!  Highlights of the day were the Goshawks, of course.  Always the crowd-pleasers!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Total - 13

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2452
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 162
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1455
Cooper's Hawk - 62
Northern Goshawk - 16
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 664
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 84
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5671

our resident Merlin up on his favourite perch (Walter)

the Merlin (left) up annoying the local Cooper's Hawk (Walter)

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - many still moving through the park
Loon sp - 2 flying overhead

Unfortunately for the most part the songbird migration appears to be nearing it's end but you just never know what may show up at any given time.

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 3

People:
Dave & Mary Beth, Hugh, Arvo, Bruce & Ann Falls, Ann, Dave, Pat & Nancy, Cori, Paul, Gary, plus a few others.  Thanks for all the help and the camaraderie today!

Weather Prediction:
A day of west wind tomorrow.

Walter

Nov 3rd - 38 Birds!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 21
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Total - 38

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2448
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 162
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1452
Cooper's Hawk - 62
Northern Goshawk - 13
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 661
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 84
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5658

a juvenile Northern Harrier (Arvo)

a beautiful Rough-legged Hawk (Matt)

Turkey Vulture (Arvo)

Other Birds:
Eastern Bluebird - one small group flew over.
Bonaparte's Gull - a large group of approximately 50 birds first sighted flying like shorebirds near a feeding frenzy out on the lake.  For the remainder of the afternoon they were observed feeding with Red-breasted Mergansers, Long-tailed Ducks, Ring-billed Gulls, and Herring Gulls.  From my photos the Bonaparte's Gulls appeared to be (for the most part) juvenile 'first winter' and adult 'non-breeding' birds.  Bird species #194 at Rosetta for your scribe!  Hurray for me!

 Just one of many frenzies! (Walter)

an adult Bonaparte's Gull on the left (Walter)

 in this 'Where's Waldo' photo I've pointed out at

least one juvenile Bonaparte's Gull in the upper left (Walter)

(Just a reminder that all photos on this blog are 'clickable' to enlarge)

Bugs:
Cabbage White - 4

Green Darner - 2

People:
Sheldon, Matt, Arvo, Dave, Berle, Charlie, Carol, Paul, and a few others.  Thanks for an enjoyable afternoon at the park.

 Our friend Betty flew over the park on Tuesday in a similar

jet on her way to the far side of Africa.  We wish her all the

best for a safe journey and hope she sees much of the wildlife

that most of us will only ever see on TV.

Weather Prediction:
Looks like more NW wind for tomorrow...at least until 1:00pm anyway.

See you at the fence,
Walter

Nov 2nd - A Dozen Birds

Today:
Northern Harrier - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
Merlin - 1
Total - 12

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2427
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 161
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1447
Cooper's Hawk - 62
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 652
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 84
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5620

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - still moving through the park in numbers
Common Raven - 2
Red-breasted Merganser - a couple of thousand out on the lake

Bugs:
Cabbage White - 6
Clouded Sulphur - 1
Fiery Skipper - 1
Monarch - 1
and
Green Darner - 1

People:
Sophie, Arvo, Ron, Dave, Berle, Bill, Terry, Carol, Manny, Ann, and a few others

Weather Prediction:
Rain to start the morning but after that it shouldn't be too bad.  N and NW wind!

Walter

Oct 31st - 35 Birds Up High

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 16
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 17
Total - 35

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2427
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 160
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1447
Cooper's Hawk - 61
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 643
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5608

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 2
Fiery Skipper - 1 (record late sighting for RMG and possibly the GTA as well)

People:
Sophie, Arvo, Ron, Carol, Ann, and Dave

Weather Prediction:
S wind for tomorrow.  Not the best!

Please remember that as we move towards the end of the migration season not only do the raptors get fewer in numbers, they also take longer to get going in the morning.  The bulk of today's movement was in the early afternoon.

Walter

Oct 30th - Another Goshawk Being Chased!

A slow afternoon after the morning rain.  The highlight was yet another Northern Goshawk being chased out of the area by the crows.  Not sure how many that makes now but there's been several this season.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 4
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
Total - 10

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2411
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 160
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1446
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 12
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 626
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5573

Other Birds:
Common Raven - 3
Loon sp - 1
Red-breasted Merganser - several hundred on the lake

People:
Paul, Matt, Steve & Iris, Phil & Josh, Charlie, Blane, and Ann

Weather Prediction:
Light N and NE winds in the morning switching to SE in the afternoon.

Walter

Oct 28th - 45 Birds on Light Wind

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 19
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 18
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Total - 45

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2407
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 159
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1445
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 11
Red-shouldered Hawk - 52
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 623
Rough-legged Hawk - 4
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5563

a beautifully marked Rough-legged Hawk (Mike D)

a very high-flyin' Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

The next group of photos are all of the same Red-tailed Hawk...

(Mike D)

(Rosemary)

(Mike D)

(Mike D)

Other Birds:
Loon sp - 2
Snow Bunting - a few small flocks flying overhead

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 1
Monarch - 1

Mammals:
American Red Fox

People:
Matt, Steve, Kris, Ron, Peter, Patty, Terry, Bruce, Jeff, Mike D, Berle, Arvo, Rosemary, Carol, Sophie, Nancy, Ann, Gary, Paul, Lynn, MC, Hugh, Joyce, Rayfield P, and several others.  Thankyou everyone!

Weather Prediction:
SW wind to start the day and switching to W by 1:00pm.

Walter

Oct 27th - Friday's Forecast *Updated*

Weather Prediction: 
Light NW wind for Friday.  Let's see what the birds think.

Walter

Oct 26th - 3 More Bald Eagles!

After reading Jean Iron's report for the Cranberry Marsh Hawkwatch in Whitby, I can confidently say that the wind was just not strong enough to keep the birds flying along the shoreline of the lake today.  They had 522 raptors in 6.5 hours and we had 54 raptors in 9 hours!!!  Hopefully some of Jean's birds got held up somewhere in-between the two watches and we'll see them come over Rosetta on Friday, our next good day.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 17
Bald Eagle - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 32
Total - 54

Eagle Time (DST):
11:49am - BE
12:24pm - BEx2

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2388
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 157
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1443
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 50
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 605
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5518

another high-flyin' Bald Eagle (Terry)

Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

 another dark-marked 'Northern' Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

Other Birds:
Black-capped Chickadee - lots of small groups moving through
Duck sp. - 1 flyover
Loon sp. - 1 flyover

Northern Cardinal (Terry)

Hermit Thrush (Lee)

Mammals:
American Red Fox

Oh my, so beautiful! (Lee)

Not sure but I think the fox was looking to

mate with Lee's hair!  (Walter)

People:
Matt, Steve, Sophie, Manny, Berle, Terry, Peter, Carol, Hugh, Vickie, Diana, Lee, and Allison.  Great day despite the lack of birds, thankyou.

Weather Prediction:
Rain for tomorrow!

See you Friday,
Walter

Oct 25th - See What Happens When...

...you leave the park early.....a Golden Eagle flies along the top of the bluffs, just above treetop level!!!

At 5:19pm, while looking for the last few raptors of the day I spotted a bird heading towards Matt and myself.  As the bird constantly flapped it's wings and came closer to us I said to Matt that it's likely another crow.  As it reached roughly the east end of the park I noticed that it lacked the sheen of a crow, infact it looked brownish in colour.  Once I put my binoculars on it again I said that it looked like an eagle.  Oh yes it was an eagle!  As it flew by us I saw that it lacked any white markings underneath.  All markings were somewhat brownish-gray in colour.  Something of interest that I noticed was that when it turned away from us the feathers on it's wing appeared 'silvery' like that of a Turkey Vulture.  Another feature that stuck with me was that the head and beak size didn't appear to fit what I knew as a 'Bald' - even though that's what I identified the bird as at the park.  I really had to rush home to hit the books!!!  Thankfully there weren't anymore birds so home I went!  With my little knowledge of Golden Ealges and especially at such close range I was able to conclude that it was infact a 'Golden' but I couldn't say with certainty whether it was an adult or a sub-adult.  Because it was such a busy day for migration Matt's camera had gone through 2 batteries and my camera was buried at the bottom of my backpack so unfortunately no photographs were taken of this gorgeous bird.

It was a great day all around, our best so far this season!!!

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 236
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 8
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 59
Cooper's Hawk - 11
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 11
Red-tailed Hawk - 178
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 1
Total - 509

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2371
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 99
Northern Harrier - 157
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1441
Cooper's Hawk - 60
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 50
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 573
Rough-legged Hawk - 3
Golden Eagle - 5
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 5464

Eagle Time (DST):
11:44am - BE
12:34pm - BEx2
12:53pm - BE
03:33pm - BE
05:19pm - GE

Red-tailed Hawk (Lee)

Turkey Vulture (Kris)

 Northern Goshawk (Arvo)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Arvo)

a juvenile Northern Harrier (Lee)

a crow harrassing a passing Northern Goshawk (Kris)

Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

a high-flyin' Bald Eagle (Terry)

another Red-tailed Hawk (Terry)

an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Lee)

a low-flyin' Turkey Vulture (Lee)

 a Red-tailed Hawk passing the Moon (Kris)

(This shot was slightly edited by yours truely)

Other Birds:
American Crow - lots again today!
Common Raven - 5
Evening Grosbeak - 1
Loon sp - 2

Common Raven (Arvo)

Butterflies:
Monarch - 3

People:
Matt, Steve, Kris, Peter, Gary, Paul, Joyce, Allison, Hugh, Betty, Sophie, Ron, Arvo, Monika, Terry, Carol, Lynn, Trudy, Jean, Ely, Lee, Blane, Vickie, Diana, and likely a few others.  Thankyou for all your help today!

Weather Prediction:
N and NE wind for tomorrow.  Birds will likely be high and there won't be any clouds.  Eek!!!

See you there,
Walter

Oct 24th - Holy Crow!

Today was one of those days - perfect sky, perfect wind, very few birds!  As was mentioned by Ron Pittaway, it's likely that we were just out of birds ready to migrate.  This was day 3 of decent wind blowing down from the north.  Oh well, we all had a great time at the watch all the same.  We'll try again tomorrow.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 17
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 15
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
Golden Eagle - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 49

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2135
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 149
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1388
Cooper's Hawk - 49
Northern Goshawk - 7
Red-shouldered Hawk - 39
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 395
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 4
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 42
Total - 4955

Eagle Time (DST):
02:10pm - GE

What We Are Seeing: 

"Northern" Red-tailed Hawk: Ron Pittaway and Jean Iron mentioned that most of the Red-tailed Hawks now migrating past Rosetta are the Northern subspecies abieticola. Compared to our local breeding Red-taileds, Northern birds average decidedly darker overall with more heavily streaked belly bands. The scientific name abieticola means “dweller of the fir” referring to the Northern’s breeding range and habitat.

a heavily streaked and darker marked "Northern" Red-tailed Hawk (Ann)

and another "Northern" Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

as compared to our local Red-tailed Hawk (Mike D)

The number of Northern Goshawks seen so far this fall at Rosetta and Cranberry Marsh (and elsewhere) suggests that southern Ontario may be experiencing a minor irruption.

Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

Of interest:
As of today the Holiday Beach Hawk Watch south of Windsor has counted nearly 38000 Turkey Vultures and just across the Detroit River at the hawk watch near Detroit they've counted over 32000!  Sure some birds would be the same but not all.  My God there must be an awful lot of dead and rotting meat somewhere to support them!!!

Other Birds:

American Crow - 100+!!!

Black Scoter - 6

Loon sp - 4

Swan sp - 1 (up high, possibly a Tundra)

White-winged Scoter - a few small groups flying low over the lake

Black Scoters (Tom)

Mammals:

American Red Fox - 1

 Red Fox (Trudy)

People:

Gray, Tom, Peter, Ron, Betty, Matt, Manny, Berle, Terry, Paul, Arvo, Hugh, MC, Jean, Lee, Haja, and Trudy.  Thanks for all the comraderie in-between bird sightings today!

Weather Prediction:

More strong NW wind for tomorrow!  Hopefully the birds will want to go!

See you at the park,

Walter

Oct 23rd - 3 More Northern Goshawks!

Sorry for the late post.  I found it absolutely impossible to type anything while my eyes were shut earlier!

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 13
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 81
Cooper's Hawk - 4
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 15
Total - 124

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2118
Osprey - 59
Bald Eagle - 94
Northern Harrier - 145
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1373
Cooper's Hawk - 49
Northern Goshawk - 6
Red-shouldered Hawk - 37
Broad-winged Hawk - 236
Red-tailed Hawk - 387
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 3
American Kestrel - 275
Merlin - 83
Peregrine Falcon - 41
Total - 4906

adult Cooper's Hawk (Paul)

Northern Goshawk (Paul)

Other Birds:
Great Blue Heron - 2
Loon sp - 1
Northern Flicker - 1 or 2
Songbirds - many groups of mixed blackbirds, robins, jays, chickadees, and nuthatches flying westward

Fox Sparrow (Paul)

Hermit Thrush (Paul)

Butterflies:
Cabbage White - 3
Monarch - 4 (no tagging)

People:
Gray, Paul, Phil, Betty, Bob, Karen, Steven, Dave, Ron, Trudy, Sophie, Mark, Rosemary, MC, Bruce & Ann Falls, Pat & Nancy, Arvo, John & Zeny, Hugh, Berle, Allison, Tim, Cam, Matt, Peter, Lee, Denny & Kate, and several others!  Thankyou everyone for a terrific day!

Weather Prediction:
Good NW wind tomorrow with a few sprinkles of rain mid-day.....hopefully not too many sprinkles!

Walter

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