This is an official posting from the High Park Hawk Watch. Station: High Park, Toronto, Ontario View Period: October 25 - 31, 2010 Station coordinator: Don Barnett Counters: D. Barnett,H. Elliot C. Harte, M. Kelch, A.M. Leger, N. McHugh, N. Murr, D. Peuramaki, H. Shapiro, GTRW Webmasters: D. Woods
Hawk watching in late October is always especially interesting since a few of the early season raptors such as Turke Vulture, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier and Sharp-shinned Hawk are still flying overhead. But they are gradually joined by the later cool weather migrants such as Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and the much anticipated Golden-Eagle. That was certainly the case this week. Today was our best day, in terms of numbers with 694 migrants observed including 647 Red-tailed Hawks, 5 Rough-legged Hawks and 4 Northern Goshawks. Our totals for October 31, the past week the year to date and all of 2009 are: Species Oct 31 Oct25 to 31 Year to Date 2009 Turkey Vulture.................11...................24.................2646.........2805 Osprey..............................-.....................2....................45.............27 Bald Eagle........................1.....................1....................38.............54 Northern Harrier.................4.....................9....................63.............45 Sharp-Shinned Hawk........12...................70.................1910.........1105 Cooper's Hawk..................1.....................4.....................60............70 Northern Goshawk.............4.....................6.....................10.............7 Red-shouldered Hawk........5....................13.....................34...........55 Broad-winged Hawk............-......................-.................1157........1907 Swainson's Hawk...............-......................-......................1..............- Red-tailed Hawk.............647.................748..................1186........1236 Rough-legged Hawk...........5....................6........................7.............2 Golden Eagle....................-.....................1........................6............10 American Kestrel...............-.....................1....................239..........216 Merlin...............................-.....................1......................19............32 Peregrine Falcon...............-......................-......................22............28 Unidentified.......................4...................12......................81............74 Total.............................694..................898..................7531.........7673 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.greatertorontohawkwatch.com/ Observations for this season are not yet available. -- Howard Shapiro email: [email protected] _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
