This is an official posting from the High Park Hawk Watch. Station: High Park, Toronto, Ontario View Period: Oct 8 and Oct 3-9, 2005 Station coordinator: Don Barnett Counters: D. Barnett, B. Carswell, H. Currie, M. Kelch, N. McHugh, & H. Shapiro
This past week finally saw some weather associated with observing large numbers of migrating raptors. This happened on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was especially good with 1370 birds seen including 1159 Turkey Vultures. This is the highest one day total for Turkey Vultures in the 10 year history of the High Park Hawk Watch; the previous one day record was around 930. With these numbers the year to date totals for this species is now about in keeping with historical averages. This week also saw our first Northern Goshawks, Red-shouldered Hawks and Golden Eagles and of the year with 6, 2 and 2 respectively. Our totals for the October 8th, the past week and the year so far are: Species Oct.8 Oct.3-9 Year to Date Turkey Vulture.........1159..........1542.............1676 Osprey....................1.............3...............50 Bald Eagle................6.............9...............36 Northern Harrier..........1.............8...............31 Sharp-Shinned Hawk.......52...........154..............825 Cooper's Hawk.............4............15...............41 Northern Goshawk..........-.............2................2 Red-shouldered Hawk.......2.............6................6 Broad-winged Hawk.........-.............-..............627 Red-tailed Hawk.........132...........305..............363 Rough-legged Hawk.........-.............-................- Golden Eagle..............-.............2................2 American Kestrel..........1.............2..............163 Merlin....................1.............2...............21 Peregrine Falcon..........-.............-...............10 Other(Swainson's Hawk)....-.............-................- Unidentified.............13............17...............36 Total..................1370..........2067.............3899 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.torontobirding.ca/~gtrw/ -- Howard Shapiro email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
