Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2 101 101 Osprey 5 43 43 Bald Eagle 3 42 42 Northern Harrier 3 88 88 Sharp-shinned Hawk 17 684 684 Cooper's Hawk 1 33 33 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 0 1308 1308 Red-tailed Hawk 4 67 67 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 3 329 329 Merlin 1 19 19 Peregrine Falcon 4 12 12 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Black Vulture 0 1 1 Total: 43 2733 2733 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Todd Pepper Observers: Gwen Gidge, Jason Craft, John Craft, Kory Renaud Visitors: Couples from Detroit, Scarborough, Oakville, Windsor, LaSalle and Lakeshore. Weather: Light winds all day out of the south/south-south-west generally less than 5 km/hr; temperature between 18-24C; mostly clear skies. Raptor Observations: Another fairly slow day with 43 birds of 10 species. The highlights were the 5 Osprey that all flew in very close to the Hawk Tower, and a Peregrine that dive-bombed the "Great Horned Owl" decoy at the tower. The Sharp-shinned Hawks all seemed a little testy today, taking talons to each other if another Sharpie got too close to them. We had lots of sightings of the female American Kestrel that escaped from the Canadian Peregrine Foundation display during the first weekend of the HBMO Hawk Festival, but no luck in trying to re-capture the bird. A report from residents who live on the south shore of Lake St. Clair indicated that thousands of Broad-winged Hawks were flying very high along that shore line. Non-raptor Observations: We had the first movement of Blue Jays today with 174 birds. Other highlights included: Chimney Swift - 8; Red-headed Woodpecker - 1; American Goldfinch - 48; and 7 species of Warbler. Predictions: There is a 70% chance of rain forecast for the morning, but only 2 - 4 mm of rain. Temperatures are forecasted to be cooler at 11 - 18C, and the winds will shift to the north-west and quite strong at up to 30 km/hr. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Todd Pepper ([email protected]) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/ _______________________________________________ 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/
