Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 10767 27234 27392
Osprey 0 42 185
Bald Eagle 20 65 164
Northern Harrier 28 517 1003
Sharp-shinned Hawk 530 6875 12124
Cooper's Hawk 16 280 329
Northern Goshawk 1 7 7
Red-shouldered Hawk 5 42 42
Broad-winged Hawk 1 763 73019
Red-tailed Hawk 26 301 325
Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 1
Golden Eagle 8 30 30
American Kestrel 11 2322 5044
Merlin 7 80 138
Peregrine Falcon 0 15 38
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 11421 38574 119842
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Ches Caister, Dave Brown, Don Campbell, Don Taylor,
Jim Dunn, Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan,
Phil Waggett, Rebecca Vile, Ronnie Goodhand, Shay Redmond,
Tom Stewart
Visitors:
A ton of visitors today ...including a group of young birders that arrived
before the sun was up...Tim W., Stanley K., Artemio D and Ricardo W. Also,
Andrew K. (T.O.) and Josh V. (Guelph) (thanks guys for helping spot the
birds) along with a group of young women who were students at Guelph and
Laurentian universities, Michael and Paula Walker (Grimsby), Kirk and Kathy
Mitchell (Sarnia), Rebecca and Tim.
Thanks to everyone for helping with spotting and counting the birds today.
Weather:
With solid cloud to start the day and light winds we were wondering what
happened to all the predicted sunny skies. Hovever, the clouds eventually
broke out and the birds started to move. The temps ranged very slightly
from 10C to 12C all day. The wind was light from the WNW all morning and
picked up slightly around noon.
Raptor Observations:
It was not surprising that today's flight was significant...after so many
days of rotten weather the birds took advantage of reasonably good winds
and no precipitation to migrate. The total birds for the day was 11,421.
As soon as the cloud cover began to break out a bit the TVs started to
kettle and stream westward. It was interesting how they would stream first
into the wind and then tack away from the wind...much like sailors do when
trying to sail into the wind. The main TV flight was easily viewed with the
clouds as a backdrop...though there were times when buteos, harriers and
accipiters were spotted flying much higher than the vultures. At one point
we had a huge kettle of TVs out in front of us to the east and from the top
of the kettle a continuous stream of TVs stretched all the way to the
horizon in the west. With such a large flight of TVs it was inevitable that
we'd break the old 1-hour and 1-day records for this species...now 2,775
(1-hour) and 10,765 (1-day)...almost double the previous record. We've also
now surpassed our highest season total for TVs ..now at 27,392...though
this number is definitely going to be much higher before this season is
done!
A great bird for the day was a juvenile Northern goshawk (originally
spotted by Andy K.) that passed the observers just to the left (north)
about 150 feet away and not more than 20 feet above the ground. We also
recorded the first Roughleg for the season (light morph).
Non-raptor Observations:
With lots of visitors and many of our regulars present at the Cliff today,
there was lots of assistance in compiling today's non-raptor observations.
Thanks to everyone who contributed.
Non-raptor flocks flying overhead were a highlight of the morning, with
much the same mixed Blackbirds as yesterday, although there were some much
larger flocks today -- one with about 1000 birds. Another of similar size
followed behind a few seconds later. Eastern Meadowlarks were moving
through again today in smaller flocks (30 total)and Eastern Bluebirds were
found near the Cliff and were seen flying past the Cliff from the mound.
Observers at the mound were entertained early this morning by Yellow-rumped
warblers plus Golden- and Ruby-crowned Kinglets in the surrounding bushes.
Others flying over included a total of 20 Common Loons, Am. Robins (also
everywhere in the woods and their singing was a constant throughout the
morning), Crows, Goldfinches, Blue Jays (both of which also stopped over in
the woods) and American Pipits were spotted along the Cliff.
Multiples of Blue-headed Vireo, Eastern Phoebe, and Downy Woodpeckers were
found in several locations up and down the road. In fact, there was a lot
of Woodpecker action yesterday with multiple sigtings also of
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, Red-Bellied Woodpecker and Northern Flicker. The
Pileated pair were heard near the pond, plus had put in an appearance early
in the morning. A Hairy Woodpecker was also seen earlier in the morning
for a total of 6 Woodpecker species for the day.
Flocks still hanging out in the bushes include the ubiquitous
White-throated Sparrow, and today there seemed to be many more Song
Sparrows than we have seen in a while. A few white-crowns as well were
mixed in, especially just south of the Alley, and Hermit Thrush again were
out and about providing good views, but not great photo ops. As well,
there were some great sightings of a few singles including Common
Yellowthroat, Palm and American Redstart, American Woodcock, Towhee, House
Finch, Brown Creeper, Red-breasted Nuthatch. In addition the day's Sparrow
total was 6 species, as observers added Swamp (2 were seen), Lincoln's and
Versper to those species mentioned above.
At the B&B, more flocks were noted, including a flock of Killdeer still
hanging around the pond at the southeast end of the field and a flock of
Horned Larks. The single Great Blue Heron and Kingfisher were seen again
today in the vicinity of the pond.
Observers also tallied 64 Monarchs.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected])
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
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ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to [email protected]
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
