>From Tim Mccarthy via Ontbirds There I was sitting on top of Hawk Hill not exactly feeling sorry for myself because, well, it was a beautiful day to be outside doing anything but because of the "good" weather I despaired of seeing very many raptors. That, by the way, is why you don't get a report here from me each day. If there is nothing to report I don't want to take up space. Except for now. I want to thank all the people who wrote in and hoped I was seeing lots of hawks. It is my birthday, you see, and I am so happy to have seen many more birthday greetings than raptors. For most of the day the only raptor I did record was a lone Turkey Vulture who kept passing back and forth overhead looking down at me and I kind of picked up that he was thinking "You're older now. Closer to me. Closer. I can wait. I can wait."
And then something crazy happened. All the resident raptors in the park suddenly swooped in and landed in the old oak tree over our heads. First one then two of the RedTail Residents. No sooner than they got into the tree (there's never been 2 of them up there at once before) than Minnie Cooper, the resident Coopers' Hawk flew in to join them. Then,maybe fearing his 2 kids were in danger of being outnumbered by the little Cooper, along came one of the adult Redtails and then all raptor heck broke loose. The four hawks spent about 10 minutes swooping around after each other putting on an aerial display the like of which I've never seen before. Minnie came so close behind one of the Redtails she almost nipped a tailfeather. Then as if that weren't enough a Merlin came out of nowhere just like they always do, roaring through the melee in the tree doing a few loops and when we looked higher there was a Sharpie passing overhead seemingly in disbelief like 'whoa, I'm outa here". Shortly after that 20 or so kids from the Nature Centre came trotting up the Hill grinning like mad and gathered all around to tell me about the Osprey they'd just seen catching a big fish. Now in case you think I'm making this up some folks passed by and saw the show and said things like "Wow, is that why you guys are out here? (well, kind of.) " Does this sort of thing go on all the time? (no, only once in your life) . And Tom and Ken and Dave all saw it too and wondered if I was kind of special and I thought no, not really, well, yes maybe just today. In addition to the Resident Raptor madness we also saw; 1 Turkey Vulture, 1 Sharpie, 1 Redtail (passing through) and 1 Merlin (who crashed the party). That doesn't sound like much of a day but believe it or not it was fairly typical for us this season so far. Our totals, and those of all the other Raptor watching sites in North America can be seen any time on the HMANA website, http://www.hmana.org/ along with a whole lot of other great information. So far this season, since Sept.1 High Park has managed to produce 202 Turkey Vultures, 16 Ospreys, 31 Northern Harriers, 324 Sharpshins, 29 Coopers,371 Broadwings, 90 Redtails, 78 Am.Kestrels, 10 Merlins and 12 Peregrines for a rather pathetic total, counting the un-id of 1194 birds. I could have done as well out my bedroom window. Also worthy of note, I am told by our new friend David Kaposi, was a Wild Indigo Duskywing butterfly, seen 10 days ago and what we believe is a new record seen in High Park, a group of 7 Common Ravens. Predictions for tomorrow -who knows, but for me, whatever it is, its going to be seen through a foggy little hangover. Keep your eyes on the sky, Tim Hawk Migration Association of North America<http://www.hmana.org/> www.hmana.org HMANA is a membership-based organization committed to the conservation of raptors through the scientific study, enjoyment and appreciation of their migration behavior. _______________________________________________ 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
