Sep 16th - Broad-wings Over Rosetta!

It's been a long time coming but finally we got our day, Broad-winged Hawks kettling over Rosetta!  I had mixed feelings this morning as I stood down along the fence-line and I wasn't seeing a whole lot flying hawk-wise.  There were a lot of Blue Jays overhead but not much else.  Of course, once the sun got a little further up in the sky and the thermals began to rise, everything changed.  By noon, the sky was busy with hawks.  Broad-wings were being seen in good numbers to the north over Kingston Road and over the park.  Turkey Vultures, a bird not seen migrating until today were flying over in small groups.  As well, Sharp-shins, Osprey, Eagles, Merlins and Kestrels all had decent showings today.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 47
Osprey - 6
Bald Eagle - 5
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 247
Broad-winged Hawk - 1057
American Kestrel - 31
Merlin - 8
Total - 1404

To Date:
Turkey Vulture - 47
Osprey - 95
Bald Eagle - 42
Northern Harrier - 35
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 1163
Cooper's Hawk - 13
Northern Goshawk - 0
Red-shouldered Hawk - 0
Broad-winged Hawk - 1205
Red-tailed Hawk - 20
Rough-legged Hawk - 0
Golden Eagle - 0
American Kestrel - 171
Merlin - 49
Peregrine Falcon - 3
Total - 2843

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:42 AM - BE (imm)
11:01 AM - BE (imm)
12:55 PM - BE (adult)
01:27 PM - BE (adult)
05:06 PM - BE (imm)

It was exactly three years ago to the day that we had our previous best Broad-winged Hawk day.  Normally each year we see somewhere between 150-250 BWs, on September 16th, 2011 we counted 605 at the park which included a few small kettles.  That year we finished-up with an impressive (for Rosetta) 757 BWs.  Today we counted 1057, giving us 1205 for the year.  We still have a few days left of Broad-winged Hawk migration to possibly add to that number!

Don't forget to click on each photo to enlarge them...

Roughly 60 Broad-winged Hawks (Kris)

Broad-winged Hawk (Kris)

An incoming American Kestrel (Kris)

Broad-winged Hawk (Arvo)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

Juvenile Bald Eagle (Mike D)

A nicely marked adult Broad-winged Hawk (Mike D)

Turkey Vulture (Mike D)

American Kestrel with dragonfly bits. (Mike D)

After almost having his head split open by a diving local Red-tailed Hawk yesterday, Don thought he'd tempt fate and return the park today wearing a Coonskin Cap!  Sadly for us the Red-tails weren't bombing the park today.  Perhaps another day Don.

'Tempting Fate' (Arvo)

As mentioned above, Blue Jay migration started today with a few hundred flying over the park early before the hawks came.

Another 200+ Monarchs were observed flying along the bluffs today.

My thanks to everyone assembled at the park today, without your help the numbers would have been significantly smaller.  And my thanks to the many photographers who continually make this blog a very special place to visit.

Watch the weather forecasts over the next few days, if we get more north winds, we may see more Broad-wing kettles.

Walter