Nov 1st - Lots of Good Stuff!

A really nice mix of raptors flying today including both Bald and Golden Eagles, Red-Shouldered Hawks and Northern Goshawks to name a few.  Also three different species of geese, Canada, Snow and Brant.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 1
Bald Eagle - 2
Northern Harrier - 13
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Northern Goshawk - 3
Red-shouldered Hawk - 5
Red-tailed Hawk - 74
Gold Eagle - 5
Merlin - 1
Total - 107

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3272
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 104
Northern Harrier - 256
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3693
Cooper's Hawk - 107
Northern Goshawk - 13
Red-shouldered Hawk - 63
Broad-winged Hawk - 1418
Red-tailed Hawk - 687
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 7
American Kestrel - 697
Merlin - 126
Peregrine Falcon - 79
Total - 10668

Eagle Time (EDT):
01:45 PM - GE
01:55 PM - GE
03:27 PM - BE
03:58 PM - GE x2
04:05 PM - BE
04:?? PM - GE

Another great gallery of photos...

a young Golden Eagle (Mike D)

 Turkey Vulture (Lee)

same Vulture as above (Mike D)

 an adult Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

a young Red-shouldered Hawk (Mike D)

 another view (Mike D)

a young Northern Harrier (Lee)

a young Sharp-shinned Hawk (Mike D)

a young Red-tailed Hawk (Lee)

an adult Red-tailed Hawk (Lee)

a fast flying Northern Goshawk (Mike D)

Non-raptor excitement today included 5 flocks of Brant ranging in size from 7 to 27 flying towards Niagara just ahead of the snow storm.  Also, a large flock of 107 Snow Geese, including at least 3 whites heading due south.

 Snow Geese flying overhead (Walter)

My thanks to Lee, Betty, Mike D, Phil, Dave, Peter, Mark, Berle and Cori...plus anyone I forgot.

By the look of things, the washrooms are now closed for the season.  The nearest washrooms are located in Coffee Dome at the top of the hill on Kingston Road just east of the park.  Within the next two blocks of Cliffside Village are a Tim Horton's and a Country Style.

Expect more of the same wind conditions tomorrow but under much sunnier skies.

Walter

Oct 31st - October? Wow, What a Month!

October is now over but it'll be a long time before we forget it, I'm sure.

6126 raptors counted, a new 'October' record.
3156 Turkey Vultures counted, a new 'October' record.
35 Bald Eagles counted, tied the 'October' record.
146 Northern Harriers counted, a new 'October' record.
1601 Sharp-shinned Hawks counted, a new 'October' record.
72 Cooper's Hawks counted, a new 'October' record.
58 Red-shouldered Hawks counted, a new 'October' record.
585 Red-tailed Hawks counted, a new 'October' record.
65 Peregrine Falcons counted, a new 'October' record.
plus, our first ever Black Vulture!

Walter

Oct 30th - 7 Species, 113 Birds!

Today's count was a good indication that there are still birds out there and still birds to come.  I was thinking that we'd only see small numbers of Turkey Vultures now after so many had already gone through but it looks like there are still more to come.  There must be an awful lot 'dead' food out there for them!

Like the Vultures, Red-tails also continued on their usual 'westerly' flightpath over the northeast corner of the park.  The following screen capture that I did shows the path that many of these birds take to cross the city.  Note the perfect position of the High Park hawkwatch.

Today:
Turkey Vulture - 69
Bald Eagle - 1
Northern Harrier - 3
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Cooper's Hawk - 5
Red-tailed Hawk - 31
Gold Eagle - 1
Total - 113

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3271
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 102
Northern Harrier - 243
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3690
Cooper's Hawk - 107
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 58
Broad-winged Hawk - 1418
Red-tailed Hawk - 613
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 2
American Kestrel - 697
Merlin - 125
Peregrine Falcon - 79
Total - 10561

Eagle Time (EDT):
12:33 PM - BE
12:55 PM - GE

a young Bald Eagle (Matt)

Today's non-raptor highlights included a Great Black-backed Gull sitting out on the water and a number of Long-tailed Ducks which are now starting to arrive from the north.

Here are two great photos that Helena took today...

'Lady Bug'

'Keeping the Numbers Growing'

...she never ceases to amaze me with her work!

Dave, Matt, Ron, Rosemary, Berle, Don, Kris, Manny, John, Helena, Allison, Cori, and Lee were on-hand for some of today's action.  Thankyou everyone!

Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow (Friday) but Saturday is still looking great.

Walter

Oct 29th - Very Slow Again.

Only two birds seen today, an adult Sharp-shinned Hawk and an adult male Northern Harrier.

Non-raptor highlight was a lone Horned Grebe on the lake right out in front of the park.  Thankyou Ron for the correct ID on this one.  This is our 128th bird species of the fall season.

 Horned Grebe (Walter)

Thanks to the few who came out today, hopefully there'll be a lot more birds the next time for you to enjoy.

Fair NW wind is predicted for tomorrow (Thursday).  Fingers crossed!

Walter

Oct 26th, 27th & 28th - Our 6000th Bird of the Month!

On Sunday we counted our 6000th raptor of the month - a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  That's incredible!  That's something that normally takes us almost the entire four months to do or as in some years, just doesn't happen.  What a year we are having!  Now having said that, where were all the birds that were supposed to come on Sunday?  Good NW all day, plenty of clouds, lots of people...and only 13 birds!  Strange.

Monday brought no raptors our way and Tuesday we counted only two Sharpies.

Oct 26th:
Bald Eagle - 1
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3
Northern Goshawk - 1
Red-tailed Hawk - 7
Rough-legged Hawk - 1
Total - 13

Oct 28th:
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 2
Total - 2

To Date:
Black Vulture - 1
Turkey Vulture - 3202
Osprey - 140
Bald Eagle - 101
Northern Harrier - 239
Sharp-shinned Hawk - 3686
Cooper's Hawk - 102
Northern Goshawk - 10
Red-shouldered Hawk - 58
Broad-winged Hawk - 1418
Red-tailed Hawk - 582
Rough-legged Hawk - 5
Golden Eagle - 1
American Kestrel - 697
Merlin - 125
Peregrine Falcon - 79
Total - 10446

Eagle Time (EDT):
10:50 AM - BE

Here are a few shots of some great birds that have moved through our area in the past couple of days...

a very unsettled Long-eared Owl (Walter)

a beautifully marked Red-tailed Hawk (Rosemary)

a Short-eared Owl, our fourth in 5 years (Walter)

and this very distant dark morph Rough-legged Hawk (Walter)  

Again today (Tuesday) as I was leaving the park, I had 2 Common Ravens over the north end at treetop level above the 'ruins' in a loose battle with a number of local American Crows.  There must be a good food source nearby or they're moving in to our area.

I thank everyone who has been at the Watch the past few days.  Your help and kind offerings are very much appreciated.

Walter