Today's weather conditions were not much like our fussy migrating raptors have
been using lately but at least it didn't rain. Somewhat surprisingly the Red
Tails were coming through in small kettles. One kettle held birds which were
mostly light-coloured. Another was a small group of dark-coloured birds. It was
like family groups. I could almost hear them at the crack of dawn this morning
- "Come on, Rita, wake the kids up. We're not waiting for a Northwest wind,
we're getting the heck out of here right now." Perhaps they have relatives in
Buffalo. But then I tend to have perhaps an overly active imagination.
At any rate there was a lot more coming through today than one would think
given the wind conditions (West 20 km.). We didn't have time to grouse about
the cold as we were too busy hawking.
We saw:
7 Red Shoulders
32 Red Tails
7 Rough-Legs
2 Unidentified Buteos, and amazingly
1 Bald Eagle, juvenile, at 2:30 who took his time going through at mid-
altitude
I should have had my doubts about the Eagle were it not for Graydon Saunders
and Ian Mahione and the fact that the thing looked like a nailkeg hanging
underneath an ironing board with a honkin' big head sticking out the front. So
Bald Eagle. (Golden has a little head.) A few minutes later Graydon and I heard
some really silly bird noises. Now who makes silly noises this time of year?
Kid with a whistle? Bluejays? That's what I was looking for, then Graydon grabs
me and points to the top of a tree right next to us. Northern Shrike!
Now its going to warm up a bit. Next Wednesday looks ok with expected winds
West 10k, Friday should have winds Northwest 15k and that's pretty much it for
us this season whether there are any birds left or not. Don't put your woolies
away yet as the OFO trip to Niagara is coming up on Nov 30. These things seem
to keep getting better each year and last year was awesome.
Christmas count is on the 14th this year so don't miss that one either and,
well, hey - thanks for being with us this fall.
Keep on looking up.
Tim
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