» Birds Of Prey Hawk Watch Birding Photography

Another very successful season of the Rosetta McClain Gardens Raptor Watch has come to a close. Thanks to everyone who came out this fall. As well as a record count,many enthusiastic new folks joined us this fall..

We hiked in and around Thickson’s Woods and explored the meadow in search of, well, birds! We did find a few including black capped chickadees, a few nuthatch’s, a red tailed hawk soaring over the meadow…

Might be still a bit early for the owls, as I didn’t see any, but I did get up close and personal with an American Kestrel. In all I took about 30 photos of this kestrel and happy with the results.

We had perfect north west winds but it was slow going for the first hour or so, by 10:30 a.m. the birds started rolling in. Turkey Vultures, a few Goshawks, Sharp Shinned hawks, and plenty of Red Tailed Hawks on their migration rout along the shores of Lake Ontario.
We also watched black capped chickadees, golden crowned kinglets, finches and Leslie quickly Identified a small group of Redpoll’s (thanks Leslie!).

Arrived at Rosetta McClain Gardens at 9:00 a.m. today and it didn’t take long to see some Migrating raptors. By 11:00 a.m. we saw two peregrine falcons, countless sharp shinned hawks, a few kestrels, coopers hawks and a northern harrier. Did anyone lose a peregrine falcon?

A strong north east wind pushed hundreds of birds of prey into the area. Hundreds of sharp shinned hawks could be seen and most very low. The vantage point on top of the Scarborough bluffs kept all the birds in great viewing distance. Harrier hawks (marsh hawks) could be seen as well as a few immature bald eagles, kestrels, broad winged hawks, red tails, ospreys, and even a few good looks at peregrine falcons.

A quick trip to Colonel Sam Smith Park in Toronto and a tip from a friend led me to this immature female coopers hawk. I found her happily preening at first….

A tip from a friend sent me on an excursion to Toronto’s Edwards Gardens to find and hopefully photograph a local sharp shinned hawk. Finding it was tough, but trying to get a good photo was even tougher. Filtered light through the pine trees made it very difficult to get a good shot.