Fall Hawk Migration and Photo Opportunities

[Grant]

Could somebody tell me what happens at High Park Raptor Migration??
If I am interested in photographing raptors where in high park would be the best place to be.
I am usually around the duck ponds around springbank road.
On the migration do the raptors actually stay awhile and sit in trees or do they just fly off to high
for me to get a good picture?? If I am at the duck ponds will I see any raptors?? I would really like
to get some photos of an owl.


Grant

[Kin Lau]

I go out to the Cranberry Marsh hawk watch occasionally, and we do have low flying raptors fairly often, mostly the Sharp-shinned Hawks and Kestrels.

There's resident Red-Tailed, Northern Harriers and sometimes Coopers around. The occasional hawk hangs around for a day or two and sometimes a Bald Eagle decides to winter here.

Some years, we have a half-dozen hawks sitting/gliding just off Hall's Road itself.

Owl's are _very_ hit and miss, and they don't normally migrate during the day, but I have seen Short-eared Owls do so. The Barred and Great-Grey Owl irruptions of the last few years are not the norm.

[Pat Hodgson]

Hawkwatching at High Park is done on the knoll immediately north of the parking lot at the Grenadier Restaurant.  Most hawks are moving through, so it is not generally a productive time for photographing perched birds.  Whether they are too high to get good photos depends on a lot of things including your gear, the weather, and the species in question, which itself will vary through the course of the fall.  Certainly it is a good opportunity to take flight shots from below the birds.

[Ron Luft]

The real kick off to fall raptor migration is the Labour Day Wknd. Don Barnet and his 'gang' will be posted on Hawkwatch Hill (as described above). The hill will be monitored until mid November. Try to pick a day when the winds are from the north-west or so. If its a cool day but the winds are right the raptors will be lower than on warm sunny days. The biggest 'numbers' go through mid-Sept. to mi-Oct.

Another place to consider is Hawkcliff. Follow county RD.22 south of St.Thomas, ON. until you run out of road at the shore of Lake Erie. There are usually weekend open houses held there in September where some raptors are caught for banding and briefly displayed and released. Check out the Hamilton Naturalist Club website. The HNC is a sponsor and the 'flight;' is usually better than High Pk. The best place is called Holiday Beach at the western end of L.Eriie, thogh I haven't been yet. Highest Ontario numbers.