For several years I have been planning to work on finding flight lines through Ohio for raptors that leave Erie Metropark south of Detroit. We know that some good-sized flights have been seen in the Oak Openings area and some other Toledo area sites. I don't know if anyone has documented or gathered this data over the years. Yesterday, Wednesday, Ed Schlabach and I drove along the Michigan-Ohio border in the Toledo area, looking for the birds that had passed over Erie Metropark. The wind was about 10-15 mph from the north. We wasted about three hours searching too far west, including the Toledo airport and Oak Openings. Around 1:30 we drove back into Toledo, immediately finding kettles of Turkey Vultures heading southwest over the city. We watched from several places along the state line from 2 pm until the last 200 TVs and 1 Osprey passed by at 6:05 pm (much later than expected). Most of the birds were not extremely high and many passed directly overhead - great looks most
 of the time.

  Totals for the day:
  Turkey Vulture - 2,603 (the highest total we have seen in Ohio, but we have only watched in the spring in past years); Red-tailed Hawk - 120; Red-shouldered Hawk - 18; Northern Harrier - 11; Bald Eagle - 2 migrants; Sharp-shinned - 36; Cooper's - 7; Goshawk - 1; Peregrine Falcon - 1; American Kestrel - 1

  We plan to head back to this area as often as possible during the fall and would appreciate other hawk-watchers sharing their results with us. There is a huge amount to learn yet, such as the effect of wind direction and speed on migration lines, etc.

  Bruce Glick



  Bruce

  Bruce Glick
  [log in to unmask]
  Millersburg, Ohio


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