What a gorgeous snowy Thursday morning. I thought Hall's Rd. would be jammed
with birders and photogs!!!! But, no, I was a lonely soul for 2 hours.
It was great to witness 4 RED-TAILED HAWKS sailing around on thermals over the
lakefront--indeed, the Thermal Updraft Velocity over Lake Ontario was
300ft./min., compared with the 200ft./min. on shore.
Around noon Jim, Brandon and I watched 2 Red-taileds and 2 dark-morph
Rough-leggeds exhibiting the same methodical westward sailing just off the
lakefront.
After providing feed near the CMRW platform 11 RUSTY BLACKBIRDS arrived.
Suddenly all was quiet -a Northern Shrike had flown in very low to settle in
the nearby alder tree; shortly thereafter the Shrike flew across the wetland to
perch on a cattail stalk, keeping 2 eyes on the alert.
A nippy, but very bearable -2 to 0C; medium N wind; rising BP; TUV=2--- SEE
TABLE BELOW for the migrating raptor count--any hawks that Jim may have seen
after 1pm are not included.
CRANBERRY MARSH RAPTOR WATCH, sw Whitby, ON
Thurs.Nov.20/108
Observation time: 0900-1300
Coordinator: Doug Lockrey
Official Counter:Doug Lockrey
Observers: Jim Skene, Brandon McWalter, Judy Jacques AND young Robin
>From the 401 eastbound, exit at Salem Rd. in Ajax, south to Bayly, the east
>through Lakeridge Rd. to the first street beyond-Hall's Rd.--south toward the
>lake to the second roadside parking area. From the 401 westbound--exit at
>Brock St. in Whitby, south to Victoria St., west right through to Hall's Rd.
Species Nov.20 Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ -------------- -------------
-------------
Black Vulture(BV) 0 0
0
Turkey Vulture(TV) 0 1
3205
Osprey(OS) 0 0
149
Bald Eagle(BE) 0 0
67
Northern Harrier (NH) 0 5
99
Sharp-shinned Hawk (SS) 0 38 1499
Cooper's Hawk (CH) 0 11
118
Northern Goshawk (NG) 0 2
7
Red-shouldered Hawk(RS) 0 14 24
Broad-winged Hawk(BW) 0 0 2042
Red-tailed Hawk(RT) 6 315
1188
Rough-legged Hawk (RL) 2 17
43
Golden Eagle(GE) 0 1
9
American Kestrel (AK) 0 1
700
Merlin(ML) 0 2
29
Peregrine Falcon (PG) 0 3
21
Unknown Accipiter (UA) 0 1
19
Unknown Buteo (UB) 0 13 20
Unknown Falcon(UF) 0 0
3
Unknown Eagle (UE) 0 0
0
Unknown Raptor(UR) 0 3
43
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 8 438
9295
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Doug Lockrey, Whitby, ON
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