Holiday Beach Conservation Area
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2014
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 569 569 47297
Osprey 0 0 53
Bald Eagle 7 7 243
Northern Harrier 15 15 418
Sharp-shinned Hawk 55 55 7679
Cooper's Hawk 6 6 292
Northern Goshawk 1 1 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 40 40 360
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 36348
Red-tailed Hawk 254 254 1613
Rough-legged Hawk 6 6 12
Golden Eagle 11 11 38
American Kestrel 4 4 1023
Merlin 0 0 69
Peregrine Falcon 2 2 48
Unknown Accipiter 1 1 23
Unknown Buteo 3 3 186
Unknown Eagle 0 0 1
Unknown Falcon 1 1 7
Unknown Raptor 0 0 46
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 975 975 95765
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Jeremy Hatt
Observers: Dan Lumm, Donny Moore, Dwayne Murphy, Jim McCoy,
Kory Renaud, Ryan Sokolowski, Steve Greidanus
Visitors:
Quite a few visitors stopped by the tower and were not disappointed. Once
again, many thanks to all those who helped during the count and a HUGE
thank you to the banding station for bringing a Northern Goshawk to the
tower to release.
Weather:
Windy! Winds of 30-40km/h blew strongly throughout the day from the north.
Temperatures were 1.6C in the morning and "warmed" to 5.4C in the
afternoon. Though the weather predicted precipitation in the morning, there
was no rain. Cloud cover was variable throughout the day.
Raptor Observations:
The kind of day a hawk counter dreams for! Strong north winds produced a
high number of raptors and there were many highlights. A truly great moment
was when a banded Northern Goshawk was brought to the tower to be released
and as everyone was enjoying this beautiful bird, there were 3 Golden
Eagles flying by the tower! In total, we counted 11 Golden Eagles by day's
end, a lifer for some. 7 Bald Eagles were also tallied, so a good eagle day
all around. Red-tailed Hawks were flying over throughout the morning and
afternoon, sometimes at very fast speeds. A total of 254 were counted.
Other highlights included 40 Red-shouldered Hawks, 6 Rough-legged Hawks
(including a beautiful dark morph close to the tower), 15 Northern
Harriers, and 2 Peregrine Falcons.
Non-raptor Observations:
A high number of American Crows migrated past the tower from dawn right to
the last hour of the count. We finished w/ a total of 9,050 crows. Lots of
blackbirds were on the move in the morning w/ counts of 2,110 Red-winged
Blackbirds, 1,310 Common Grackles, and 100 Brown-headed Cowbirds. There
were fewer finches flying today w/ only 15 Pine Siskin, 50 American
Goldfinch, and 1 Purple Finch. 70 Cedar Waxwings and 2 Eastern Bluebirds
flew past the tower. In the afternoon, observers were treated to 7 Sandhill
Cranes. Today's eBird list can be seen here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S20405745
Predictions:
Temperatures are predicted to range from 1C in the morning to 7C in the
afternoon w/ Northwest winds in the morning shifting to West winds in the
afternoon. No precipitation is predicted and I would expect another great
day w/ good numbers of raptors migrating.
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Report submitted by Jeremy Hatt ([email protected])
Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at:
http://hbmo.ca/
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