This is an official posting from the High Park Hawk Watch. Station: High Park, Toronto, Ontario View Period: September 10 to September 16, 2004 Station co-ordinator: Don Barnett Counters: D. Barnett, B. Carswell, H Currie, N. McHugh, D. Milsom & H. Shapiro This is a late post for the week of September 10 to 16 (by the way Saturday September 18 saw over 1,000 birds at High Park and Sunday promises to be good too if the North winds continue). The near complete absence of favorable weather conditions for observing hawks at High Park has resulted in very low numbers of Broad-winged Hawks being observed. This is with the exception of September 10th when 361 raptors were counted. Our totals for the September 10th the past week and the year so far are: Species Sept10 Sept10-12 Year to Date Turkey Vulture............3.............3................7 Osprey....................1.............5................9 Bald Eagle................2.............2................3 Northern Harrier..........1.............2................4 Sharp-Shinned Hawk......116...........172..............204 Cooper's Hawk............11............12...............17 Northern Goshawk..........-.............-................- Red-shouldered Hawk.......-.............-................- Broad-winged Hawk.......185...........185..............201 Red-tailed Hawk..........20............22...............61 Rough-legged Hawk.........-............18................- Golden Eagle..............-.............-................- American Kestrel.........14............18...............24 Merlin....................-.............3................4 Peregrine Falcon..........-.............1................4 Other(Swainson's Hawk)....-.............-................- Unidentified..............8............12...............18 Total....................83...........437..............556 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.torontobirding.ca/~gtrw/ Observations for this season are not yet available. -- Howard Shapiro email: howard.shapiro@utoronto.ca