Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 75 75 Osprey 2 78 78 Bald Eagle 0 56 56 Northern Harrier 17 355 365 Sharp-shinned Hawk 270 4365 4375 Cooper's Hawk 5 60 61 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 21 70499 70530 Red-tailed Hawk 0 24 24 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 80 1614 1647 Merlin 3 38 39 Peregrine Falcon 1 43 43 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 1 1 Total: 399 77209 77295 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Chris Burris, Keith Sealy, Michael Sandell Visitors: We had lots of visitors today including Bruce, Monica & Sarah Gates, and Mike Novelle who helped out for the morning, plus Terrill and Ron from Kitchener. Several other visitors came and went throughout the day. Thanks as always to the crew of volunteers for today's count. Weather: Winds were a bit more cooperative today from the ENE and E but eventually ended up back at ESE which isn't great for getting birds down to the hawkwatch area. Temp was once again warmer reaching a high of 23C. Absolutely ZERO cloud cover for the entire day! Raptor Observations: A bit more of a flight today with 399 birds observed and counted. A few local Redtails, Bald Eagles and TVs were seen far to the north; 1 Bald Eagle juvenile flew back and forth at the cliff early in the day. As you can see from the hourly breakdown, the flight was steady today with a peak in Sharp-shinned numbers between 10 and 12 this morning, while Kestrel numbers were all over the place. The lone Peregrine came in low just south of the knoll with not a whole lot of wind to help its flight. The Broadwings (21) were spotted flying far to the north. Bulk of the flight today was Sharpies (270) and Kestrels (80). Non-raptor Observations: We don't have a whole lot to report but thanks to Bruce and Sarah Gates for the passerine report including today's only Warbler species (American Redstart), some Wild Turkeys (a first for this season), American Goldfinches, and another first for the season -- a couple of White-throated Sparrows. No Bluebirds were seen on the wire on the way to the Cliff this morning but in their place were 4 Red-winged Blackbirds. observers also reported 4 Woodpecker species today including Pileated, Hairy, Red-bellied and Northern Flicker. Other highlights were Carolina and House Wrens, White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees (all near the knoll), 2 Killdeer that spent the day just across the field from the observation knoll, our usual flock of Pigeons and a single Cormorant. Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (only 2 today), Monarch Butterflies and all the large Dragonflies (mainly Green Darner, Black Saddlebags and 12-spotted Skimmers) have really slowed down over the past few days. Monarchs seem to pick up in the early to mid-afternoons, but the numbers are very low compared to even a 3 days ago. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected]) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
