Hawkless Hill

A quick update from Hawk Hill at High Park on October 1, 2007. Southeast winds, warm weather, and poor cloud cover resulted in very few birds being seen today. And by very few birds, I mean 4 in total over a period of 3 hours. However, it's given me a chance to talk to the other hawkwatchers. One of the topics of debate was the Double-crested Cormorant cull at Middle Island and other vicinities in Ontario. My opinion falls somewhere in the middle until I can hear some hard scientific justification for the cull. There is a meeting in Toronto that I plan to attend on October 22 at High Park Tennis Club that will discuss the issue. More on this soon.

So, I may as well tell you what the 4 birds were:

1 Cooper's Hawk
3 Turkey Vultures (all of which showed up minutes after a visiting school group left...they didn't see any migrants)

2 resident Red-tailed Hawks were also present again, one adult and a juvenile bird that sticks close to Hawk Hill and provides quite the entertainment for the counters. On Saturday, I witnessed 2 juvenile Red-tails harassing each other on the soccer field near the north entrance of the park and it was fantastic to watch. Also Saturday I saw my first Common Mergansers of the fall, a few migrating Goldfinches and Jays, as well as my first Golden-crowned Kinglets. Lastly, at the count location, we saw two Common Loons flying south. The Golden-crowned Kinglet starts to migrate mid-September with larger numbers throughout November and October.

So that's all for now. I won't be going tomorrow because rain is being predicted by Environment Canada for the morning (hawks do not migrate during rain). I hope to return Wednesday or Thursday though and help out once again.