The South Livingstone Raptor Count for the fall migration of 2008 has now begun. First official day of counting began on 25th August 2008. Follow the daily movement of raptors on this blog updated daily by Peter Sherrington.

Monday, September 15, 2008

September 15 [Day 21] It was 11C at 0800 and rose to a season high 20C by 1500 and was still 18C at 1900. The sky was essentially cloudless all day and after 1300 there was not even a trace of cloud. As yesterday the wind was initially NW or WNW becoming W after 1600 and was consistently between 15 and 30 km/h all day. The blue-out conditions made observation challenging but an additional 8 pairs of eyes at the site for much of the day helped considerably. Movement started somewhat earlier than yesterday with the first Sharp-shinned Hawk moving south at 0917, but like yesterday concerted movement only started after noon and was steady until the last 2 Golden Eagles were seen at 1903. The 127 migrants counted was the second highest count for the season and comprised 11 species. Again the flight was dominated by Sharp-shinned Hawks (63), and Bald Eagle (4), Red-tailed Hawk (9) and Golden Eagle (24) had their highest totals for the season to date: two of the Red-tails were juvenile dark morph "Harlan's Hawks". Passerine movement was relatively thin and included 48 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 29 Yellow-rumped Warblers and 1 Townsend's Warbler, but the highlight was a Common Raven that flew to the south along the ridge at 1330 with a golf ball in its bill. Where it found it is anybody's guess! 12.5 hours (232.67) OSPR 1 (5), BAEA 4 (11), NOHA 1 (19), SSHA 63 (446), COHA 7 (87), NOGO 6 (32), UA 4 (16), RTHA 9 (44), GOEA 24 (107), AMKE 2 (10), MERL 2 (9), PEFA 1 (5), UU 3 (3) TOTAL 127 (806)

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