September 15-2017

Thanks to Dave for the following report from the 15th:

Sharp-shinned hawks  16

Osprey                       1

American Kestrel        4

Cooper's Hawks         5

Northern Harrier         1

Other notables

Red eye vireo. (Phil).  American Redstart, Bay breasted, Wilson and Magnolia warblers 

Local TV and RT

And the highlight was a probable Hudsonian Godwit spotted by me heading out over the lake.

Observers.  Sheldon, Sue, Phil and Dave

We're still waiting for better weather!  In the meantime, Mike D took some nice photos of a Merlin in a tree last Saturday:

Lee

Raptor Watch procedures for the 2017 season

Thank you for your willingness to participate in the Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch as a Citizen Scientist.  Your observations are important.

The clipboard with the sign-in sheets for August-November and the 3 hole coiled workbook with a pen is in the Staff Office.  You will need to find a staff member to unlock the office to pick up the recording resources.  

Please start a new page for each day.  A day is from 10:00 am - 3:00 pm give or take.  You will notice on the sign-up sheet that the day is divided into a morning and afternoon time period.  10:00 AM - 12:30 and 12:30 to 3:00 PM.  Thank you for volunteering your time to help observe the raptors.

Record the species and record a tick count (IIII - groups of 5) of the number of each species of raptor that you observed during your watch in the workbook.  If you were lucky to see an eagle, please record the time of your sighting. There are 15 that are usually seen at Rosetta.  
 

American Kestrel (AMKE) , Bald Eagle (BAEA) , Broad-winged Hawk (BWHA), Cooper's Hawk (COHA), Golden Eagle (GOEA), Merlin (MERL), Northern Harrier (NOHA), Northern Goshawk (NOGO), Osprey (OSPR) , Peregrine Falcon (PEFA), Red Shoulder Hawk (RSHA), Red tail Hawk (RTHA) , Rough-legged Hawk (RLHA), Sharp Shinned Hawk (SSHA), & Turkey Vulture (TUVU).  

Please remember to also record the number of monarchs flying by and make note of other birds and mammals.

On a quiet day or if you have another commitment before 3:00 PM, it is ok to leave early.  If there is no one at the watch to hand over the workbook to continue recording, take a photo of the day's recording in the workbook and send it to rosettamcclaingardens at gmail.com or just email the totals to rosettamcclaingardens at gmail.com if you can’t take a photo. If you are able to get some photos, please send to rosettamcclaingardens at gmail.com and they may be chosen for the blog.  Please return the clipboard, workbook, sign-in sheets and pen to the office.  (You may have to find a staff person again).  If there is no staff around, please take the clipboard and let us know.

The process for recording is evolving.  Your comments and/or questions are appreciated.  Please either email them to rosettamcclaingardens at gmail.com or write them in the back of the workbook.

You are great!  Thank you for your contribution, Citizen Scientist.

Lee, Hugh, John, Betty, Terry

September 14-2017

Hi everyone,

 

Dave reported the following:

 

Sharp Shinned         14

Cooper's                 1

American Kestrel    1

 

This weather isn't helping migration at all, we need north winds and cooler temps!

 

Lee

Sep 13th - No Title

Today, Hugh reported the following...

Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3

Walter

Sep 12th - Mostly Sharpies...Mostly.

Hugh's report...

Today:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
Merlin - 1
Total - 13

Dave, Hugh, and lots of kids.

Walter

Sep 10th - 3 More Birds

Today, Hugh had the following...

Turkey Vulture - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Merlin - 1

Walter

It's Broad-winged Hawk Time!

Just a heads-up to anyone heading to Rosetta over the next week or so.  When you can, watch in the distance over the trees on the north side (over Kingston Road) of the park for kettling Broad-wings.  It's one of the most beautiful scenes that you'll ever see during migration time.  Of course, NW winds are your best chance to see them.  Good strong gusting NW winds will put them right over the park!  Good luck!

Walter

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