Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Dec 02, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 24883 Osprey 0 0 124 Bald Eagle 2 2 180 Northern Harrier 1 1 1028 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 8391 Cooper's Hawk 4 4 231 Northern Goshawk 1 1 8 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 2 365 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 13000 Red-tailed Hawk 8 8 3110 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 13 Golden Eagle 3 3 84 American Kestrel 0 0 1937 Merlin 0 0 93 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: 22 22 53523 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine, Ronnie Goodhand Visitors: Ken Wootten stopped by the B&B to help out this morning. Weather: The clouds took several hours to clear out this morning, not helped by the very light winds, albeit from the NE. We started in the plus range (2 C.) but the humidity and cloud cast a chill on things. Eventually, though, we reached a high of 7 C. a gorgeous late fall day for people but for raptor migration, not so much. Raptor Observations: Thanks to Mac, Keith, Ronnie and Ken for their contributions to todays count. This is the 9th year that the Hawk Cliff hawk watch has continued into the month of December. A few volunteers conduct a watch on days when the wind / weather look promising for a migratory raptor flight. Today looked promising but the flight took as long to get started as the cloud took to move out, so our morning count was almost as low as it could go (1 Coop in the first hour that snuck along beside the treeline at the north end of the B&B field). Then, just after 12:00 PM, migrants began to move through, some at very high altitude. By the end of that hour, observers were really getting into it and then in the last hour cloud moved back in, the wind (what little there was) died down, and the flight simply faded out, with only 2 birds between 1:00 & 2:00 PM. The good news is that we had counted 8 species, although only a total count of 22. Of these, 2 were Bald Eagles, 3 were Golden Eagles, with 1 each of Northern Harrier and Sharp-shinned Hawk, 2 Red-shouldered Hawks and 8 Red-tailed Hawks one of which was harassing the single Northern Goshawk of the day as they both crossed the field and headed west. Non-raptor Observations: Observers noted lots of passerine activity mainly along Hawk Cliff Rd early this morning with numerous Downy Woodpeckers as well as a couple of Red-bellied and a Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, the usual Crows and Blue Jays, Northern Cardinal, Am. Tree Sparrow and, oddly, a House Sparrow near the parking area (we usually only see them at the Dexter / Hawk Cliff Rd corner), a couple of Am. Robins, Golden-crowned Kinglets, a White-breasted Nuthatch, a flock of 20 Eastern Bluebirds, a flock of 6 Red-winged Blackbirds, 1 Hermit Thrush and a couple of Am. Goldfinches. Flocks of Tundra Swans were seen along the cliff as well as overhead at the B&B. As well, many more Red-winged Blackbirds (about 200) and a small flock of Horned Larks were seen at the B&B. Predictions: Moderate winds will shift to N overnight, then to NW gaining velocity towards morning. Some wet snow / rain is expected overnight with temperatures dropping to around 2 C. By 10:00 AM Thursday, the precipitation should have moved out, bringing part sun and cloud and a brisk NW or WNW wind. Temp will also be a brisk 3 C. to start, but likely feeling more like -2C in that wind. Great raptor migration weather as long as the rain/snow ends and the wind comes on strong from the NW. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Mary Carnahan ([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
