The weather was supposed to be pretty good today but I spent a while thinking
about what if it wasn't and there were no birds and got sort of chilled hoping
somebody wouldn't ask me what I was doing on this day 14 years ago. All I could
think of was to wish for "Groundhog day" dated just the very day before that,
to be repeated over and over for the rest of my life. How innocent the world
was then! How full of promise was my future and that of my wife and children. I
was told that Sept 11 2001 was a pretty good day on Hawk Hill though so we can
maybe re-live that.
>From 9:30 am until 3:30 pm we had a total of 83 raptors with most of them
>coming through between 11 am and 3:00 pm we had our little North west wind now
>and then but hardly enough to ruffle Hawk- All's wind ribbon. Participants,
>and a most welcome group they were, consisted in rough order of appearance Don
>Barnett (who announced his withdrawal before he left this time thus breaking
>the spell forever. Now we'll have to dig up a theme song for him and hum it
>when he leaves. Suggestions will be welcomed.) Celia Harte (what on earth did
>I ever do before Celia?)
Ian Maione (who will always be welcome as long as he keeps bringing those
eagles) Joe Ventura (who has perhaps the sharpest eyes we've ever seen ) Bob
Yukich (its hard to get a word in edgewise but that's ok 'cause Bob talks about
some really neat stuff) and Baxter Naday (never heard of him? Don't worry, you
will.)
I wouldn't mind repeating today over and over because we saw:
3 Turkey Vultures
4 Ospreys
2 Bald Eagles (1 adult in the Am and 1 immature in Pm)
3 Northern Harriers
46 Sharpshins
3 Coopers Hawks
5 Broadwings (get ready, here they come )
4 Red Tails (not counting Robbie Rotten, his wife Rita and their
son, Rodney, the Red Tail Residents)
7 American Kestrels ( guess they were Canadian ones , really)
1 Merlin (do they breed in Toronto, somebody answer seriously, please?
)
2 Peregrine Falcons
1 Unidentified Accipiter (boo)
2 Unidentified Raptors (2 boos)
If, like me, you are beginning to despair of where our world is headed and that
it is taking our Youth along with it try and come out to Hawk Hill some time on
a weekend or a late afternoon weekday and meet a young fellow by the name of
Baxter Naday. But don't make a big fuss because I think he might get a bit shy
if you do. I hadn't seen Baxter all summer so while we stood in the parking
lot getting ready to leave he told me a bit about his summer's birding (western
Grebe, anybody?), asked me how my summer was and what I did. While I was
saying things like ummm and looking down at my shoes trying to remember
anything worthwhile talking about Baxter saw 4 Sharpies, 3 Turkey Vultures and
an immature Bald Eagle. But he was so gosh darned modest about it. There I
was, jumping up and down! Anyway, there ought to be a lot more Baxters. Thanks
for making my day, Young Feller.
I'm starting to feel pretty slick about calling the weather - tomorrow is
going to be a bit cooler than today, with some nice background clouds and North
West winds. if you don't know what that means by now you'd better clean up your
bins and get out to the Hill tomorrow and make it early or you won't get a spot.
Happy Hawking and see you there,
Tim Mccarthy
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