Sep 16th & 17th - 28 Birds, 1 Eagle!

September 17th:
Northern Harrier - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 14
American Kestrel - 5
Total - 20

Other Birds:
Red-tailed Hawk (local), Merlin (local), Cooper's Hawk (local) and many songbirds.

Insects:
Butterflies -  Mourning Cloak, Black Swallowtail, Eastern Tailed Blue, Eastern Giant Swallowtail, Silver-spotted Skipper, Question Mark, Red Admiral, American Lady, Painted Lady, Cabbage White, Clouded Sulphur, unidentified Blue sp. and unidentified Crescent sp.

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Walter, Jennifer, Peter, Arvo, Phil and others.




September 16th:
Osprey - 1
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4
American Kestrel - 2
Total - 8

Eagle Time (EDT):
11:15am - BE

Other Birds:
Red-tailed Hawk (local), Merlin (local), and lots of songbirds!

Red-tailed Hawk (Arvo)

Hawkwatchers:

Theresa, Ella, Ann and Lee

Walter

Sep 14th - 18 Birds, 3 Eagles!

September 14th:
Bald Eagle - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 12
Merlin - 3
Total - 18

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:40am - BE
11:16am - BE
02:00pm - BE

To Date:
Turkey Vulture
Osprey - 22
Bald Eagle - 38
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 163
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Northern Goshawk
Red-shouldered Hawk
Broad-winged Hawk - 53
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
Rough-legged Hawk
Golden Eagle
American Kestrel - 10
Merlin - 5
Peregrine Falcon
Unidentified Accipiter
Unidentified Buteo
Unidentified Eagle
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Unidentified Raptor
Total - 318

Photos:

Merlin (Lee)

Other Birds:
Merlin (local), Red-tailed Hawk (local), Turkey Vulture (local), Common Loon and Common Raven

Insects:
Lots of migrating dragonflies!
Butterflies - Monarch, Black Swallowtail, Eastern Giant Swallowtail, Fiery Skipper, American Lady, Painted Lady, Question Mark, Red Admiral, Mourning Cloak, Clouded Sulphur and Cabbage White

Animals:
Eastern Cottontail rabbit

Weather Prediction:
Off and on light rain for Sunday, wind from the east.

Walter

Sep 12th & 13th - 5 Birds!

September 12th:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
American Kestrel - 1

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa and MC




September 13th:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1

Hawkwatcher:
Lee

Weather Prediction:
Gusting wind from the W and SW for tomorrow.  Fingers crossed something comes our way.

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 10th & 11th - 37 Birds, 6 Eagles!

September 10th
Osprey - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1
Total - 2

Hawkwatcher:
Walter





September 11th
Bald Eagle - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 23
Cooper's Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 3
Merlin - 1
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Total - 35

Eagle Time (DST):
11:14am - BE x2
11:19am - BE x3
11:34am - BE

To Date:
Osprey - 22
Bald Eagle - 35
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 148
Cooper's Hawk - 2
Broad-winged Hawk - 53
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 8
Merlin - 2
Unidentified Buteo - 10
Unidentified Falcon - 1
Total - 295

Other Birds:
Common Raven

Animals:
Mink

Insects:
Butterflies - Monarch, Question Mark, Clouded Sulphur, Eastern Giant Swallowtail, Black Swallowtail, American Lady, Painted Lady, Fiery Skipper, Red Admiral, Cabbage White and Mourning Cloak.

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Kris, Walter and a few others.

Weather Prediction:
Rain for the morning and early afternoon.

Walter

Sep 8th - 173 Birds, 12 Eagles!

Now that's more like it!!!  With the north wind today most birds were nothing more than pepper specks way up but we got 'em.  Big shoutout to anyone with a camera today, you were a great help once again.

Today:
Osprey - 11
Bald Eagle - 12
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 75
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 52
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 4
Unidentified Buteo - 8
Total - 173

Eagle Time (DST):
12:34 - BE x5
12:53 - BE
12:56 - BE x2
03:00 - BE x2
03:10 - BE x2

To Date:
Osprey - 21
Bald Eagle - 29
Northern Harrier - 6
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 124
Cooper's Hawk - 1
Broad-winged Hawk - 53
Red-tailed Hawk - 8
American Kestrel - 5
Merlin - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 10
Total - 258

Photos:

Cooper's Hawk (Theresa)

Bald Eagle (Elias)

American Kestrel (Lee)

Cooper's Hawk (Lee)

Merlin (Lee)

Broad-winged Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

 Broad-winged Hawk (Lee)

Bald Eagle (Lee)

Red-tailed Hawk (Theresa)

Other Birds:
Turkey Vulture (local), Cooper's Hawk (local), Merlin (local), Red-tailed Hawk (local), Common Raven, Chimney Swift, Cedar Waxwing

Insects:
Monarch, Orange Sulphur and Clouded Sulphur butterflies amongst others

Hawkwatchers:
Theresa, Elias, Mark, Mike & Leslie, Kris, Norm, Brian, Sophie, Naish, Bruce, Lee, Arvo, Bruce & Ann Falls & family, MC, Salman, Charles, Sally, and several others.  Thankyou everyone!

Weather Prediction:
Wind starts out from the NE but by 10 o'clock it switches and comes from the E.  Not great.

Walter

Sep 7th - 54 Birds, 9 Eagles!

Today:
Bald Eagle - 9
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 39
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 2
Total - 54

Eagle Time (DST):
11:20am - BE
11:26am - BE
12:38pm - BE x2
03:08pm - BE
03:31pm - BE
04:00pm - BE x3

To Date:
Osprey - 10
Bald Eagle - 17
Northern Harrier - 4
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 49
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin - 1
Unidentified Buteo - 2
Total - 85

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Bald Eagle (Lee)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Lee)

Other Birds:
Common Raven, Red-tailed Hawk (local), Cooper's Hawk (local)

Animals:
Mink, Rabbit and the usual squirrels

Hawkwatchers:
Mark, Theresa, Bruce F, Walter, Connor, Lee, Robert, Betty, and a few others

Weather Prediction:
The forecast as of 3:30am, light winds from the north for Sunday.  Likely birds but up high similar to Saturday.

See you at the park,
Walter

Sep 4th - 21 Birds, 8 Eagles!

The eagles flew over the park or over the lake at high altitude except for the first one which went by at eye-level.

Today:
Osprey - 6
Bald Eagle - 8
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 4
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Total - 21

Eagle Time (DST):
09:48am - BE
12:35pm - BE
12:37pm - BE
03:40pm - BE
03:56pm - BE
04:15pm - BE x2
04:20pm - BE

To Date:
Osprey - 10
Bald Eagle - 8
Northern Harrier - 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 10
Broad-winged Hawk - 1
Total - 31

Osprey (Theresa)

Insects:

Betty reports that there were lots of the usual suspect butterflies in and around the gardens today including many many Monarchs.  Monarch tagging with Terry and Betty continues (weather permitting) each day during the week, weekends are hit and miss with Betty.

People:

Phil, Bruce, Theresa, Allison, Lee, Terry, Betty and a few others.  Thankyou everyone!

See you at the park,

Walter

Aug 31st - The First Quarter Is Over.

Well folks that was brutal!  As I've stated in the past global warming really seems to be taking a toll on hawk watching at Rosetta.  BigFrank and I used to always shoot for 100 birds of prey for the month of August and we'd usually hit that, sometimes we'd get many many more.  In the last five years we haven't even come close to the 100 mark, the total count of migrating birds of prey for August 2019 is 4 -- 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 2 Osprey.  Good grief!

The last 10 Augusts...

2010 - 181 raptors
2011 - 107
2012 - 245
2013 - 116
2014 - 297
2015 - 75
2016 - 38
2017 - 73
2018 - 47
2019 - 4

On a happier note the month of August has been fantastic for butterflies and moths.  Twenty-five species of butterfly were identified including a return visit from last year's star, the Milbert's Tortoiseshell.  Monarch migration finally picked up in the later half of the month and Terry, Betty, Hugh and others have been busy with tagging.  In just two weeks they've managed to capture, tag and release 1000 of them!  As for moths, not a lot of variety but a few real beauties have shown up including many visits by Hummingbird Clearwing Moths, a return of the 2017 star, the Fadus Sphinx Moth, and a caterpillar of the Snowberry Clearwing Moth.

Many colourful photos to look at...

 Milbert's Tortoiseshell (Allison)

 Fiery Skipper (Walter)

Red-spotted Purple (Walter)

Peck's Skipper (Walter)

Question Mark (Walter)

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Walter)

Red Admiral (Walter)

a pair of worn Silver-spotted Skippers (Walter)

Black Swallowtail (Walter)

Viceroy (Walter)

Eastern Comma (Walter)

Painted Lady (Walter)

Monarch (Walter)

American Lady (Walter)

a damaged White Admiral (Walter)

Eastern Giant Swallowtail (Walter)

Great Spangled Fritillary (Walter)

Hummingbird Clearwing Moth (Walter)

 Snowberry Clearwing Moth caterpillar (Walter)

See you at Rosetta,
Walter

Aug 24th - How 'bout An Update?

Well, as figured, it's frightfully slow this month.  On the 18th Lee saw a pair of Sharp-shinned Hawks fly over the park and on the 23rd Ron Pittaway and I watched an Osprey circling high up over the park drifting westward.  Those we'll count.  The local Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks have been sighted many times already as they hunt for food throughtout the area.  Perhaps now that the temperature has dropped a bit things will pickup.....fingers crossed.

Walter

Aug 2nd - When Does The 2019 Raptor Watch Start?

Hi folks,

Right now my best guess would be September 1st, the 'official' start date for fall watches in the Great Lakes region.  Having said that, if you're at Rosetta especially after the 15th of August and you observe any raptors flying westward please let me know about them.  The local Red-tailed Hawks, local Turkey Vultures, Cooper's Hawk and Merlin excluded!  LOL!!!

During August I'll be at the park off and on but mostly focusing on butterflies (but if the weather changes dramatically then I'll switch to birds, of course).

If you would like to spend some time conducting the Raptor Watch, that would be awesome!  Thankyou.

I'll switch over to raptor watching once things start to pickup.

Let's hope for lots of windy days with cold air blowing down from the north!

Walter

Monarch Butterfly Tagging Fundraiser (GoFundMe)

With Monarch butterfly tagging just around the corner in August, we have decided to help Terry and Betty out by fundraising for the cost of tags.  They have been spending around $600 American dollars per year for the tags which is quite a lot of money, so if you can make a donation, it would be appreciated.  Please click on the link to read about what they do and more importantly, what they've learned about Monarch butterfly migration.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/rosettamcclainmonarchtagging

Lee

Jul 7th - The 2019 View From The Watch Site

Hi folks,

I was at Rosetta this afternoon to enjoy the park and hopefully a few butterflies as well.  Anyway, while there I did my usual survey of the view from the hawkwatch site and the following photos should give you some indication of what we'll face this season.  Enjoy!

Eye-level view looking towards Bluffer's Park  (Walter)

Eye-level view looking out over the lake  (Walter)

Eye-level view looking straight out over the lake  (Walter)

I was saddened to see the following.  One of my favourite trees in the park is now marked to be cut down as it is almost completely dead.  On an early visit to the park in the spring it was clear that the tree suffered hard hits from the weather and almost every branch tip had broken off.

Butternut tree  (Walter)

It didn't take very long for this milkweed to take over this rose garden patch.  No complaints from me, of course!

Common Milkweed  (Walter)

As for butterflies, today most were observed in and around the flowering trees, especially the Lindens and the Japanese Tree Lilacs.

See you at the park,
Walter