From: Tim Mccarthy, via Ontbirds.
Right now at this very moment, people are scaling the worlds great heights, some are exploring nature's farflung outposts all over the world and some are enjoying all the civil amenities the globe has to offer. But none of them , I'll bet, had as much fun as we did today. I know people say that science is mostly a real drag if you're doing it right . But not today. Today we had 153 assorted Raptors all of whom caused us handful of old timers a great deal of excitement. So what if you left your lunch at home? It'll still be in the fridge tomorrow. Get your eyes up in the Stratosphere. Our weather was near perfect, with moderate NorthWest winds, rising pressure and solid clouds overhead. Maybe its been better in days gone by but not this Autumn after such a crazy Winter and Spring. We saw: 54 Turkey Vultures - high and low but mostly far out 2 Ospreys - low 3 Northern Harriers - super high 76 Sharpshins - mostly high and not always in pairs 4 Coopers - somebody's gotta take the tickets 1 Redtail - must be a big bunch to come 6 American Kestrels -high up and fooling around a lot 2 Merlins - high up and no foolin' a tall 4 Peregrines -with their soaring suits on 1 Unidentified Falcon - just to make us look honest. If you've been studying all the reports from Raptorwatching sites along the North shores of Ontario and Erie I'll be mighty surprised if you don't, by now, have a lot of questions. You will find all the answers, and much more, sitting every day in the form of friendly, knowledgeable, dedicated and mostly sane people on the top of Hawk Hill, right close to you in Toronto's High Park. Get here early, have a good cheap breakfast at the Grenadier Restaurant and come up to Hawk Hill and learn some great stuff about Raptors, birds, and life in general. Join the Raptorwatching School if you can spend a few hours for a couple of days. You don't even need binoculars as we will supply you with some brand new mid-priced goodies while you are on the Hill. And we will teach you how to be a good Hawk Watcher. Success guaranteed within a couple of days. And if you think I'm enthusiastic wait 'til you meet folks like Joe "The Ace" Ventura, Huey "Ferruginous" McNeil or Andrew "Twitcher" Keaveney! Your life will never be the same again. Guaranteed! Happy Hawking' Tim _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
