Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 66 152 24516 Osprey 0 1 124 Bald Eagle 0 2 152 Northern Harrier 2 17 984 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 20 8364 Cooper's Hawk 0 7 216 Northern Goshawk 0 0 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 12 313 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 13000 Red-tailed Hawk 68 249 2049 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 2 Golden Eagle 0 5 63 American Kestrel 0 0 1934 Merlin 0 3 92 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 76 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: 138 468 51892 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 11:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Keith Sealy Visitors: None. Weather: Boring but true another lovely fall day at Hawk Cliff, but more like early fall than the first week of November. The temperature during the 3-hour watch ranged from 15 degrees C. to 22 C. and there was no cloud in the sky until the last hour. We did have some haze or possibly smog close to the horizon which, combined with the otherwise clear, cerulean blue sky made spotting migrants very difficult. Light winds out of the SSE enabled many birds to fly at good altitude, so flight height was sometimes at the limit of unaided vision. Raptor Observations: During the first hour, we had a total of 1 migrant (1 of 2 Harriers seen today), with zero TVs up and moving, not a good sign even this late in the season. We found a strong flight path along the ridge at our secondary inland site but eventually the flight simply vaporized, effectively shutting down the hawk watch for the day. Nonetheless, a total of 138 migrants were tallied today including 66 Turkey Vultures plus 3 other species comprised of 2 Northern Harriers (both juveniles), 2 Red-shouldered Hawks and 68 Red-tailed Hawks. Non-raptor Observations: Most of our non-raptor observations were from the Cliff site today where there was lots of sparrow activity plus a few others. In total, 26 species were reported including Ring-billed Gull, Mourning Dove and Rock Pigeon, 3 species of Woodpecker (Red-bellied, Downy, Hairy), Blue Jays, a huge flock of Am. Crows near the ridge. In addition, there were numerous White-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Golden-crowned Kinglets in the shrubs along the bean field east of the parking area along with 1 Song, many White-throated, 2 White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Dark-eyed Juncos, 5 Northern Cardinals, a mob of Cedar Waxwings , a lone Swamp Sparrow and 8 Am. Goldfinches. Robins are still everywhere, a few Eastern Bluebirds were seen at the ridge and a variety of Blackbirds was seen including numerous Red-wings as well as 1 Rusty and some Grackles along HC Rd. Predictions: The forecast for Thursday is for early morning fog, with considerable cloud in the morning. Cloud will decrease later in the day. Winds will be moderate from the SSW and temperatures will continue to feel more like mid-September than early November. Friday brings a high probability of rain throughout the day, but the weekend is looking more positive strong winds from the WNW on Saturday, so keep your fingers crossed! ======================================================================== 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
