Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 12, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 2 385 24749 Osprey 0 1 124 Bald Eagle 1 15 165 Northern Harrier 0 23 990 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 35 8379 Cooper's Hawk 0 10 219 Northern Goshawk 0 0 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 27 328 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 13000 Red-tailed Hawk 1 534 2334 Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 4 Golden Eagle 0 13 71 American Kestrel 0 1 1935 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: 4 1049 52473 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 2 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Visitors: None. Weather: Conditions at Hawk Cliff this morning were wild, windy and intermittently wet. . . and that was almost all the action there was. The temperature was 12 C., which is fairly balmy for mid-November, but with high humidity and extremely high winds, it really wasn't comfortable. At 10 AM the wind speed was 34 km / hr, gusting to 46 but by the end of the hour, had risen to about 50, with gusts up to 64 km / hr, making it a major challenge just to remain standing. Raptor Observations: During the first 45 minutes at the Cliff, a juvenile Bald Eagle cruised in from the northeast, just gliding into the wind, then went west above the knoll, but that was it for that location. At the auxiliary ridge location with a more SW flow, 2 TVs tacked their way across the crest of the hill in a more or less SW direction, while a single Red-tailed Hawk finally managed to do the same; however, it took the Red-tail almost 40 minutes to do so. Non-raptor Observations: Early in the first hour, a number of Ring-billed and Herring Gulls cruised the Cliff for a while, then disappeared. No other non-raptor species were seen there, but on the way to the Ridge, 6 Am. Crows were seen flying very low across a field plus a Great Blue Heron tried to fly to the south side of Sparta Line, just east of ECR 22 (Fairview Rd), but was blown back and was last seen retreating back down into the wetland behind the houses. farther up the road there was a flock of about 30 Starlings and a flock of Rock Pigeons is always hanging around at the Ridge. . . today they were perched on a silo roof. Predictions: Tomorrow's weather looks just as windy, but maybe a bit less wet. Wind direction will still be SW. Over the last few days, the forecast for Saturday has gone from NW to WNW to brisk W winds, which is not the best for raptor migration, but probably a lot better than it was today. ======================================================================== 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
