This is an official posting from the High Park Hawk Watch. Station: High Park, Toronto, Ontario View Period: Sept. 24 - Sept. 30 Station coordinator: Don Barnett Counters & Observers: Anne Marie Leger, Joe Venturi, Ian McNeil, Ian Mahione, Hugh Currie, Lynne Freeman. Ivor Williams, Naish McHugh, Don Barnett, Tim Foran. Cal Tanti, Leslie Kinrys, Bob Falconer, Bruce Ferry, Tim McCarthy, Celia Harte, Howard Shapiro, Andreas Jonsson.
The migration of Osprey, Northern Harrier and Broad-winged Hawk are pretty well finished and will be followed by Turkey Vulture through the first few weeks of October. We will continue to observe Bald Eagle. Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper's Hawk for the next few weeks with the buteos such as Red-tailed Hawk and Red-shouldered Hawk picking up numbers in mid October. . This was a rather slow week with 782 raptors observed with nearly half of them being Turkey Vultures (326). This week saw our first observations of the year for Northern Goshawk and Red-shouldered Hawk And the first movement of Turkey Vultures in larger numbers (although nowhere near peak numbers). Our totals for, Sept. 30, this week and the year to date are as follows: Species Sept 30 Sept 24 to 30 Year to Date Turkey Vulture.......................148................326.................370 Osprey.........................................-.....................1....................24 Bald Eagle..................................-..................15.....................37 Northern Harrier........................-...................12....................33 Sharp-Shinned Hawk............26................191..................618 Cooper's Hawk.........................2...................18....................46 Northern Goshawk...................-......................2......................2 Red-shouldered Hawk............-......................1......................1 Broad-winged Hawk................1..................17................1163 Swainson's Hawk.....................-.....................-........................- Red-tailed Hawk....................58................108.................152 Rough-legged Hawk...............-......................-......................- Golden Eagle...........................-......................-......................- American Kestrel.....................3..................30.................124 Merlin.........................................1....................8......................9 Peregrine Falcon.....................2....................4....................13 Unidentified..............................5..................12....................31 Total......................................246................782...............2723 High Park Site Description High Park is a 400 acre wooded park dominated by a Black Oak Savannah located just west of Downtown Toronto near Keele and Bloor. The park is operated by the City of Toronto Parks Department. The Count site (Hawk Hill) is located on a small hill at the north end of the Grenadier Restaurant parking lot. It is located about 1.5km (1 mile) north of Lake Ontario, at an elevation of 110 metres above sea level and 38 metres above Lake Ontario. The site location is N 43 degrees 37 minutes 03.8 seconds, W 79 degrees 28 minutes 56.5 seconds. This station is at the highest point and near the centre of the park; a steep slope that descends to a large pond is immediately west of the station. Full time counts have been recorded here since 1993. The following are partners in our raptor migration monitoring in the Greater Toronto Region: City of Toronto Parks and Culture Department, Toronto Ornithological Club, and Local Naturalist's Clubs. More information including a summary of our past observations is available at: http://www.greatertorontohawkwatch.com/ Observations for this season are not yet available. -- Howard Shapiro email: [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
