Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 13, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 112 4519 5030 Osprey 0 4 121 Bald Eagle 0 20 78 Northern Harrier 7 208 652 Sharp-shinned Hawk 21 921 5356 Cooper's Hawk 3 22 86 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 9 11 Broad-winged Hawk 0 52 12992 Red-tailed Hawk 2 56 117 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 12 195 1800 Merlin 0 16 71 Peregrine Falcon 4 26 70 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 Total: 161 6049 26385 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 12:30:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy Visitors: Only 2 visitors on the knoll today, Becky-Lynn Radley and Lynne Seguin from London. Weather: Todays key weather word was WINDY! The day started out fairly calm on the knoll, but the trees across the field were swaying in the WNW wind which eventually went West and increased marginally every hour. By the noon hour, observers were really feeling that wind at their backs, and although the temp rose to a balmy 14 Celsius, the wind chill was a few degrees short of that. Clouds scudded by all morning and at times, we had lots of blue sky right above and in front of us, but clouds all around, particularly behind (i.e., to the west) and with the high wind speed, those clouds moved in and out of our view very quickly. Around 11:30, the cloud started to build significantly. At that point about the only things flying across the field were cornstalks and leaves, and whats more, they were flying east! Raptor Observations: The day started worse than slowly there were no raptors counted in the first hour, although a single Sharp-shinned Hawk blasted out of the elm tree, then dove out of sight. And stayed there. Things were a little more hopeful in the second hour with a total of 28 birds, but 20 of those were TVs. Things picked up during the next 2 ½ hours, although most of the birds were TVs, but then the numbers began to dwindle, then simply died. During the morning a couple of TVs (apparently temporary locals) cruised up and down the treeline opposite the knoll, and 1 or 2 adult Bald Eagles gave us good views (one flew west, one flew east same bird? Impossible to tell.). Todays total was 161 birds, 112 of which were TVs, leaving a total of 49 migratory raptors. Of these, the majority were Sharp-shinned Hawks at 21, followed by American Kestrel (12). As well, 7 were Northern Harriers with 3 Coopers Hawks, 4 Peregrines and 2 Red-tailed Hawks. Non-raptor Observations: On the way to the cliff this morning, many flocks of Canada Geese were seen probably heading out to fields in the area; as well, 4 Eastern Bluebirds were warming up on the wires along Fairview Rd. At the Cliff, Ring-billed Gulls were already cruising the cliff, but there were very few flocks of Blue Jays heading west and those that were consisted of fewer than 10 jays. A couple of small flocks of American Goldfinches also headed west across the knoll. A single Common Loon flew along the treeline towards the lake and a lone Northern Flicker flew east to the tree lot, so basically, not too much going on above the field. The bushes around the knoll, however, were full of Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows; there were also a couple of Song Sparrows, 1 Eastern Phoebe above in the trees and the odd Yellow-rumped Warbler. Later, a couple of flocks of Am. Robins flew west at the north end of the field, and the Blue Jay traffic did pick up a bit, but in total there were probably fewer than 500 jays today. In the woods were many more Ruby-crowned Kinglets and White-throated Sparrows plus an Eastern Towhee, a couple of Black-capped Chickadees and a Downy Woodpecker. Best bird of the day was a Tufted Titmouse looking for attention at the knoll -- noisy and right above our heads! By 10 :30, the Monarch butterflies were up and moving (total of 12 for the day, despite the very high westerly winds); also seen were 2 Orange Sulphurs, a Cabbage White (butterflies) and 2 dragonflies (1 Black Saddlebags, 1 Green Darner). In addition, there were many, many shad flies in and near the bushes. Predictions: The forecast for overnight is for fairly brisk NW winds that will shit to the W for the first couple of watch hours on Wednesday, then shift back to NW at about 20 km / hr sounds like a perfect raptor migration day! High for tomorrow will be 12 Celsius with a wind chill of 10 C. and very chilly to start at 7 C. The wind is expected to shift to W, then SW overnight on Wednesday into Thursday and will probably swing back and forth between W and SW throughout Thursday. Wind speed is expected to reach the high 20s (km / hr) on Thursday, and at this time in the season, that could be a great Peregrine day, but probably not for other raptor species. ======================================================================== 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
