Sep 9th - 5 More Eagles!

I received the following numbers from Hugh for today...

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 6
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 6
American Kestrel - 5
Peregrine Falcon - 2
Total - 44

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 22
Osprey - 24
Bald Eagle - 30
Northern Harrier - 14
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 120
Cooper's Hawk - 12
Broad-winged Hawk - 13
Red-tailed Hawk - 22
American Kestrel - 40
Merlin - 10
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 310

Eagle Time (DST):
09:45am - BE
10:09am - BE
11:30am - BE
02:30pm - BEx2

 It's our friend from yesterday, a Broad-winged Hawk (Lee)

 Bald Eagle (Lee)

a lovely sub-adult Bald Eagle (Lee)

Bald Eagle (Lee)

the very beautifully marked American Kestrel (Lee)

Red-tailed Hawk (Paul)

Other Birds:
Turkey Vulture, Cooper's Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, and Merlin (all local birds), and Common Loon

Hawkwatchers:
Bruce Lee, Mike, Noam, Paul, Norm, Berle, Betty, Peter, Allyn, Sheldon, Ron, Dave, Andrew, Joe, Jennifer, Arvo, and Hugh

Ron Pittaway sent along this interesting article that Jean Iron wrote about the corelation of American Kestrels and their food source; Green Darner dragonflies during fall migration...

Kestrels and Green Darners

Walter

Sep 8th - Finally!!!

Finally a good day of raptor movement over Rosetta!  Unfortunately most of the birds were high up and not always easy to spot naked eye.  Forecasters had predicted a NW wind day but given the flight level today, I would say that it was more likely NNW.  A higher element of N in the direction causes the higher flight.  Anyway, it was a great day with a lot of wonderful help spotting and identifying raptors.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 6
Osprey - 9
Bald Eagle - 10
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 89
Cooper's Hawk - 6
Broad-winged Hawk - 5
Red-tailed Hawk - 4
American Kestrel - 26
Merlin - 1
Total - 161

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 16
Osprey - 23
Bald Eagle - 25
Northern Harrier - 12
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 108
Cooper's Hawk - 10
Broad-winged Hawk - 11
Red-tailed Hawk - 16
American Kestrel - 35
Merlin - 10
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 267

Eagle Time (DST):
09:51am - BE
10:10am - BE
10:20am - BE
10:43am - BE
11:40am - BE
03:08pm - BEx2
04:12pm - BEx2
04:16pm - BE

 Osprey (Lee)

 a late day pair of eagles (Lee)

 a rare 'Swallowtail' Broad-winged Hawk (Lee)

(actually it's a normal Broad-wing that's lost a few tail feathers)

our only adult Bald Eagle of the day (Lee)

Other Birds:
Common Loon, Common Nighthawk, Great Blue Heron, Merlin (local), Red-tailed Hawk (local), Turkey Vulture (local)

Common Nighthawk (Patty)

Red-tailed Hawk (Walter)

Great Blue Heron (Lee)

Turkey Vulture (Lee)

the local Merlin out catching and eating lunch - dragonflies (Lee)

Hawkwatchers:
Mark, Lee, Sheldon, Rosemary, Phil, Allison, Hugh, Chris, Patty, Ron, Bruce, plus many others.  A big thankyou to everyone for such an amazing day at the Watch!

Weather Prediction:
Saturday's forecast calls for much the same conditions as today only the wind direction appears to be straight down from the north.  Watch for birds flying up high!

See you again soon,
Walter

September 7-2017

Hi everyone,

Hugh and Berle were at the park yesterday and saw the following:

Turkey vultures -  8

Sharp-shinned hawk  - 2

Merlin  - 2

Cooper's hawk  - 1

From 10..00 AM till 2 PM

Also Cape May / Wilson and Black throated Green warblers 

The turkey vultures were not the locals, they were high up and moving.  The usual 8 turkey vultures continued to hang around.

North wind alert:  Friday (today), NW winds all day, tomorrow, North winds.  You know what to do!

Lee

September 6-2017

Hi everyone,

Yesterday was a beautiful day at the park, with a handful of migrating raptors.  Theresa, Allison and I saw a distant, climbing Osprey to start the day and later, Berle and John saw 4 sharp-shinned hawks. 

Theresa writes:  Allison and I also found 4 Magnolias, a Tennessee, Black and White, Yellow rump and she had an Ovenbird. She also took a picture of what looks like a female or young male Scarlet Tanager.

The numbers: 

Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned - 4

Lee

Sep 5th - 6 birds

Berle reported the following birds that she saw on Tuesday morning while at the Hawk Watch...

Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1


During the afternoon there was an unidentified Falcon that flew over the fountain area.  My first thought was that it was a Peregrine but on further study it was more likely a Kestrel.  The long tail and lack of pure muscle made me think Kestrel.  Because binoculars were never used to study the bird closely, I'd go with the following...

Unidentified Falcon - 1

See you again soon,
Walter

September 4-2017, quiet days

Hi everyone,

We have had very little Raptor activity since the 1st as the winds are all wrong, outside of the resident turkey vultures and red-tailed hawks.  Theresa sent along the following:

No raptors but:

Black-throated Blue
Black-throated Green
Cape May
American Redstart
Wilson's
Great Blue Heron
Red-eyed Vireo
1 Chimney Swift
2 Bank Swallows
Lots of Cedar Waxwings





Trudy saw a peregrine falcon so that was it for the birds of prey.

Lee

Sep 1st - 12 Raptors, 2 Eagles, and another Airshow!

The 'official' start to the 2017 Raptor Watch went off without a hitch.  The day was filled with great people, birds, butterflies, dragonflies, flowers, planes, and a whole lot of sunshine.

 and so it begins...officially

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 1
Total - 12

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 2
Osprey - 11
Bald Eagle - 15
Northern Harrier - 5
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
American Kestrel - 9
Merlin - 7
Total - 82

Eagle Time (DST):
11:48am - BE
12:04am - BE

Other Birds:
Turkey Vulture (local), Red-tailed Hawk (local), Merlin (local), Double-crested Cormorant, Blue Jay, Northern Cardinal, American Goldfinch, Cedar Waxwing, Wilson's Warbler, Great Blue Heron, Canada Goose, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Magnolia Warbler, American Redstart, Veery, Red-winged Blackbird, Cape May Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, Yellow Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo, Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Sparrow, Ring-billed Gull, Mallard, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Herring Gull, Barn Swallow, European Starling, and Common Grackle

Butterflies and Dragonflies:
A slow but steady movement of Monarchs across the sky today.  All heading south-westward following the Lake Ontario shoreline.

Various migrating dragonflies started to fill the sky over Rosetta by mid-day today and only got thicker as the afternoon progressed.

Hawkwatchers:
John, Lee, Sheldon, Theresa, Bruce M, Ron, Hugh, Berle, Norm, Walter, Ed, and many others.

Weather Prediction:
Wind will be blowing and gusting from the east.  If you've got something better to do, do it!  You may want to go to Van Wagner's Beach in Hamilton to watch for Jaegers and other rarities.

Airshow:
Lots of spectacular flyovers this afternoon as planes readied themselves for the 'Changing of the Colours' ceremony at City Hall.

These are different planes then what were presented here yesterday...

B-25 Mitchell

DC-3 Dakota

P-51 Mustang

CH-147F Chinook

CT-155 Hawk (left) and CT-156 Harvard II (right)

CC-150 Polaris

CT-114 Tutor (The Snowbirds)

See you again soon,

Walter

Aug 31st - 41 Raptors, 9 Eagles, and an Airshow!

Wow, what a great way to end off the month! The wind was blowing straight down from the north which caused the birds to fly a little too high for some watchers but for those with good eyesight or strong binoculars, the views were spectacular! Eagles are nice to see down low and without the aid of binoculars but for this hawkwatcher, there's nothing better than seeing the master of the sky soaring up high against the clouds. It's breathtaking!

The 41 birds observed today helped to lift us out of a dismal August count and put us at a far more respectable position - 2nd worst ever! LOL!!!

Today:
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 9
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 8
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 3
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 2
Total - 41

To Date:
Osprey - 10
Bald Eagle - 13
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 6
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
American Kestrel - 8
Merlin - 7
Total - 70

Eagle Time(DST):
10:05am - BE
10:39am - BE
11:21am - BE
11:34am - BE
12:00pm - BEx2
12:56pm - BEx2 (adults)
03:35pm - BE

a beautifully marked Bald Eagle (Lee)

 a high-flying Bald Eagle over the fountain area at 3:35pm (Walter)

a gorgeous male American Kestrel (Lee)

Other Birds:
Red-tailed Hawk (local), Turkey Vulture (local), Olive-sided Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Eastern Kingbird, Flycatcher sp, Chimney Swift, Barn Swallow, Downy Woodpecker, Warbling Vireo, Blue Jay, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Cedar Waxwing, Nashville Warbler, Northern Parula, Yellow Warbler, Magnolia Warbler, Cape May Warbler, Black-throated Green Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, Palm Warbler, Bay-breasted Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Black-and-white Warbler, American Redstart, American Goldfinch, Common Nighthawk, and many others.

Airshow:
This afternoon the military had several of their planes and helicoptors out flying practice runs for tomorrow's 'Changing of the Colours' ceremony at City Hall.  If you can't be at Nathan Phillips' Square for the celebrations perhaps Rosetta might be your second best choice.

CH-146 Griffon

CH-146 Griffon (Search and Rescue)

CH-148 Cyclone

CH-124 Sea King

CP-140 Aurora

CC-130J Hercules

CC-177 Globemaster III

CC-130 Hercules (Refueler) and two CF-18 Hornets

Tomorrow's massive flyover will have aircraft old and new and include The Snowbirds.  Don't you dare miss it!  Don't forget your camera!

Hawkwatchers:
Allison, Theresa, Sheldon, Lee, Walter, Berle, Ron, Phil L, Lacey, Phil F, Ann G, and Carol S.  Thankyou everyone for all your help today.  Teamwork, teamwork, teamwork!!!

Weather Prediction:
Similar to today - wind from the north.  Bring your binoculars!

See you at the park,
Walter

Aug 29th - 3 More!

Hi folks, Still really slow at Rosetta. I was at the park from 11:30am - 4:30pm and this is what I saw fly over... Today: Osprey - 1 American Kestrel - 2 Walter

Aug 26th - 28th - 3 More Birds

A juvenile Broad-winged Hawk was photographed in the park on Saturday by Sophie Gourley...

 Today, we had a Sharp-shinned Hawk and a Merlin fly over the park.

To Date:

Osprey - 8

Bald Eagle - 4

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2

Cooper's Hawk - 2

Broad-winged Hawk - 3

Red-tailed Hawk - 1

American Kestrel - 1

Merlin - 5

Total - 26

Walter

Monarch Tagging Pages

Hi folks,

I had to separate the 'Monarch Butterfly Tagging' page in to single years as the page had become too large.  It was starting to timeout and not save data as it was being entered.  Please find the 4 new links in the 'Pages' section in the right-hand column.

Walter

Aug 25th - Two More Osprey

Thank you Lynn P and Ann B for your sightings today.  Between 11:30am-12:30pm today, 2 Osprey flew along the blufffs and over the park heading westward.

Today:
Osprey - 2

To Date:
Osprey - 8
Bald Eagle - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 2
Red-tailed Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 4
Total - 23

Walter