Sep 30th - Another 500+ Raptor Day.....Actually 600+!!!

Another fantastic day at the Watch.....if you enjoy looking up at an all-blue sky and trying to find pepper specks in it - LOL!!!  Thankfully we had some of our best pairs of eyes on-hand today to make sure that the birds weren't going to sneak by overhead quietly.  We saw each and every one of the raptors that we counted today - LOL!!!  I guess there could've been even more up there somewhere...who knows.  Thankyou everybody for all the help today!!!

Rosetta McClain Gardens, Toronto
30 September 2017
08:00am - 04:00pm

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 561
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 7
Northern Harrier - 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 35
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 19
Red-tailed Hawk - 12
American Kestrel - 5
Total - 653

Eagle Time (DST):
09:50am - BE
09:57am - BE
10:18am - BE
10:32am - BE x2
12:20pm - BE
03:15pm - BE

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 836
Osprey - 33
Bald Eagle - 51
Northern Harrier - 46
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 309
Cooper's Hawk - 24
Broad-winged Hawk - 59
Red-tailed Hawk - 47
American Kestrel - 177
Merlin - 19
Peregrine Falcon - 10
Total - 1611

These photos are courtesy of Mike...

Northern Harrier

 Sharp-shinned Hawk

Bald Eagle

another beautifully marked Bald Eagle

These photos are courtesy of Lee...

local Red-tailed Hawk watching songbirds lower down in the tree

off it goes in search of a meal!

Other Birds:
Brant - one large 'blizzard' of them heading south out over the lake to the east of the park.
Loon sp. - 2

Golden-crowned Kinglet (Lee)

Palm Warbler (Lee)

 Orange-crowned Warbler (Mike)

Insects:
Monarch - still appears to be a decent number flying along the north shore of the lake.

Hawkwatchers:
Walter, Phil, Mike, Bruce M, Ron, Mark, Sonja, Bruce & Copper, Theresa, Gunnar, Betty, Joyce, Berle, Sheldon, Naish, Patti, Sue, Lee, Paul, Beth, Trudy, Eleanor, and many others!  Again, thankyou all for your help and camaraderie today.

See you all again soon,
Walter

Sep 29th - Adult Bald Eagle!

I received the following report from Ron via Lee...


Hi Lee,

I watched from 8 - 9:30 a.m. at the fence. Saw a fine adult Bald Eagle going west. Also saw an adult Red-tailed Hawk heading west and returning east a few minutes later. Afterwards I checked the northwest corner - loads of White-throated Sparrows, a male Eastern Towhee, and both a Gray-cheeked and a Hermit Thrush. Didn't see any other birders or photographers. Left about 11:15.

Ron


The wind for tomorrow (Saturday) is from the north.  It'll be gusting up to roughly 40 kmph in the morning so it should be good for migrating raptors.  Bring your most powerful binoculars, spotting scopes, and camera lenses as the birds will likely be way up there once again.

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 28th - A 500+ Raptor Day! (more photos added!)

What a fabulous Fall day at the Watch, lots of great birds and lots of wonderful people...

Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch, Toronto
28 September 2017
8:00am - 5:30pm

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 229
Osprey - 3
Bald Eagle - 13
Northern Harrier - 11
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 92
Cooper's Hawk - 3
Broad-winged Hawk - 26
Red-tailed Hawk - 9
American Kestrel - 119
Merlin - 6
Peregrine Falcon  5
Total - 516

Eagle Time (DST):
10:15am - BE
12:50pm - BE
01:34pm - BE
02:34pm - BE x3
02:36pm - BE
02:50pm - BE
02:53pm - BE
03:09pm - BE
03:48pm - BE
03:51pm - BE
05:26pm - BE

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 275
Osprey - 32
Bald Eagle - 43
Northern Harrier - 35
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 274
Cooper's Hawk - 22
Broad-winged Hawk - 40
Red-tailed Hawk - 35
American Kestrel - 172
Merlin - 19
Peregrine Falcon - 10
Total - 957

These photos are courtesy of Ann...

Bald Eagle

Broad-winged Hawk

Broad-winged Hawk

American Kestrel

Turkey Vultures

Merlin

Red-tailed Hawk

 Sharp-shinned Hawk

These photos are courtesy of Joe...

Merlin

Red-tailed Hawk

 Broad-winged Hawk

Sharp-shinned Hawk

American Kestrel

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Other Birds:

Lots of songbirds throughout the park today and hundreds of Blue Jays flying overhead.
Loon sp. - 20
Swan sp. - 3

American Goldfinch

American Redstart

Insects:
Monarch butterflies and various species of Dragonflies filled the sky once again.

Mammals:
An American Mink was seen early morning in the grass along the top edge of the bluffs.

Hawkwatchers:
Walter, Noam, Manny, Ron, Bruce, Betty, Allison, Sheldon, Kris, Jean, Norm, Frieda, Ann, Berle, Terry, Pat & Nancy, John & Zeny, Justin, Joe, Naish, Blane, Joyce, Gillian, Arvo, Ed, Vicki, Diana, and many, many others!!!  Thankyou so much everyone for such a great day of hawkwatching!

Weather Prediction:
Rain, rain, and more rain!!!

See you again at the fence,
Walter

Sep 27th - The Heat and Humidity is Finally Leaving! (updated)

The north winds have arrived, raptors have arrived, and so have the biting Stable Flies!  If you're planning on being at the park tomorrow, wear long pants!  Thank you both Theresa and Terry for today's reports.

Rosetta McClain Gardens, Toronto
27 September 2017
08:15am - 01:30pm (Theresa)
01:45pm - 03:30pm (Terry)

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 23
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 9
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 11
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 7
Merlin - 1
Peregrine Falcon - 1
Total - 56

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 46
Osprey - 27
Bald Eagle - 30
Northern Harrier - 24
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 182
Cooper's Hawk - 19
Broad-winged Hawk - 19
Red-tailed Hawk - 22
American Kestrel - 52
Merlin - 13
Peregrine Falcon - 5
Total - 434

Other Birds:
Canada Goose - 7
Loon sp. - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 2 (locals)
Ring-billed Gull - 15
Downy Woodpecker - 1
Woodpecker sp. - 1
Merlin - 1 (local, chasing the Peregrine Falcon)
Northern Flicker - 1
Blue Jay - 280
American Crow - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 5
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
American Robin - 10
Cedar Waxwing - 5
Palm Warbler - 1
Warbler sp. - 1
White-throated Sparrow - 15
Northern Cardinal - 2
Red-winged Blackbird - 2
Common Grackle - 2
American Goldfinch - 2
House Sparrow - 5

Insects:
Monarch - 2200

Dragonfly sp. - lots

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Ron, Berle, Chris, Terry, Betty, and Ed

Weather Prediction:
Northwest wind all day long!  Should be a great day!




Special added bonus hawk-watching coverage...

With me feeling a little under the weather this morning I only made it as far as the backyard to do a bit of raptor watching.  It turned out to be fairly good.  With texting back and forth to Theresa I know many of my birds weren't seen at Rosetta.  Almost all of the birds seen from the yard were flying due west and would've passed to the north of the park and likely out of sight.

Butchered Gardens Hawk Watch, Toronto
27 September 2017
11:00am - 02:00pm

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 15
Osprey - 2
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 5
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 3
American Kestrel - 5
Total - 34

Other Birds:
Canada Goose - 11
Loon sp. - 3
Turkey Vulture - 4
Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 1
Chimney Swift - 2

Insects:
Cabbage White - 4
Monarch - 172 (22 landed in the garden)
Painted Lady - 3

Dragonfly sp. - lots!

Hawkwatcher:
Walter

See you at Rosetta early tomorrow,
Walter

Sep 23rd - A Nice Surprise

This afternoon while watching butterfly and dragonfly migration over the backyard I got a nice surprise when this beautiful Bald Eagle flew through.

Also seen flying over was an American Kestrel and 2 local Turkey Vultures.

As for butterflies - between 12:30 - 4:00pm I counted 254 Monarchs flying overhead heading due west, 4 Cabbage Whites, and 5 Painted Ladies.  41 Monarchs landed in the back garden to nectar on various flowers.  Dragonflies filled the sky all afternoon.

Keep lookin' up!
Walter

Sep 22nd - Bird Species #212

Hi folks,

Sorry this is a little late but, better late than never, right?  Anyway, our good birding friend Noam Markus found and photographed a Northern Waterthrush (our 29th Warbler species) in the north-western corner of the park back on September 9th.  This is just another amazing sighting and new addition for our little garden park.  Bird species #212.  Way to go Noam!

All 212 bird species and 2 'spuhs' can be found here

Walter

Septemer 21-2017

One measly peregrine!

This continues to be a very frustrating fall migration and I expect more of the same with this heat wave.  Theresa sent along this report:

Non-raptors:
Magnolia Warbler
2 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds
and all the regulars

Again the Monarchs were migrating at at least one per minute and by the afternoon there were at least two dozen Painted Ladies in the park at the same time.

Observers: Sonja, Hugh, Beryl and Theresa

Thanks to everyone who keeps going out.  On the plus side, it's always nice to get together and it's great that we have such a beautiful park full of other types of wildlife.  It never gets boring!

Lee

September 20/2017

From Theresa:

Only two Sharp-shinned hawks migrating.  Also two groups of Blue Jays, totalling about 50 birds, about 25 Robins and 25 White-throated Sparrows.  One Black-throated Blue Warbler the only warbler nearby, but we didn't wander much

About one Monarch every minute from 10:45 to 1:45 pm

Present: Carol, Ann, Berryl, Betty, Terry and Theresa

Lee

Sep 19th - The Numbers So Far

Well folks, unfortunately the 'Global Warming' effect is not doing us any favours at Rosetta.  It's not doing any Hawk Watches along the shores of the Great Lakes any favours either!  The cool north-west winds have yet to blow and the low count totals so far are a clear result.  Hopefully things will change soon!!!!!  Enjoy the lasting heat and humidity while you can!

To Date (as of Sep 19th):
Turkey Vulture - 23
Osprey - 25
Bald Eagle - 30
Northern Harrier - 15
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 169
Cooper's Hawk - 18
Broad-winged Hawk - 13
Red-tailed Hawk - 22
American Kestrel - 45
Merlin - 12
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 375

The Numbers comparison (as of Sep 19th):
2010 - 3188
2011 - 1968
2012 - 1660
2013 - 1610
2014 - 3220
2015 - 1941
2016 - 1098
2017 - 375

Thousands of raptors are heading south at this time (Sharpies, Kestrels, and Broad-wings especially) but without the north-west winds a-blowin' it's unlikely we'll be seeing many of them in the sky over Rosetta.  They'll be crossing the city further to the north unfortunately.  We have to continue to watch for them all the same as this is the ultimate reason why we hawk-watch in the first place (sure they're beautiful to look at!).  As observers of nature, we have to know what they're doing and where they're flying whether good or bad.

Keep up the excellent job everyone!

Walter

September 16-2017

Another quiet day.  Thanks to Dave for being a rock star and going out on these slow days.

Sharp-shinned hawks - 3

Notable birds include a great crested flycatcher.

 

Lee

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