Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 03, 2016 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1060 1108 1555 Osprey 0 1 64 Bald Eagle 9 13 129 Northern Harrier 16 22 314 Sharp-shinned Hawk 886 1002 5014 Cooper's Hawk 24 32 124 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 6 6 Broad-winged Hawk 24 27 6092 Red-tailed Hawk 24 34 186 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 64 76 997 Merlin 1 2 89 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 23 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 2 Unknown Buteo 1 1 6 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 1 1 3 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 2114 2326 14606 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 16:30:00 Total observation time: 10 hours Official Counter: Sean Jenniskens Observers: Jim McCoy, Michael Williamson Visitors: Essex Region Conservation Authority brought a school class from Tecumseh Vista Academy up the tower today. They had to count how many hawks went over in a 5 minute period, and we came up with 49 Sharp-shins. We also had Lisa and Brian H. from Leamington spend some time on the tower in the afternoon, as well as Steve who was up visiting friends and family from Arizona. We also had a couple from Ohio on their way back from visiting family for a couple hours. Weather: Started the morning with clear skies, which soon turned into foggy/hazy skies, and visibility was quite low until nearly noon. Very light W to N winds throughout the day. Raptor Observations: Good hawk flight today! 2114 Birds in total, of 10 species. The dense fog was surprisingly great for Sharp-shinned Hawks in the morning, with each hour producing more than 100 birds during the fog, and 322 in the last hour of it, all very low over the tower. We ended up with a good total of 886. Turkey Vulture numbers were also quite high today, with 1060! 24 were recorded each for Cooper's, Broad-winged, and Red-tailed Hawks. American Kestrels were also fairly good numbers later in the afternoon with 64 in total. The last couple hours of the count were quite hard, with birds barely visible with your bare eye most of the time, and at some points you couldn't even see some of the Turkey Vultures and Red-tails without a scope. Non-raptor Observations: Highlight of the day being a Laughing Gull flying North over the tower within 5 minutes of getting there in the morning. Many birds migrating over in decent numbers, including Blue Jays(32,800), Red-winged Blackbirds(1,545), European Starlings(960), American Goldfinches(490), and Horned Larks(32). The warblers seem to be diminishing, with only 3 species today. For the full eBird checklist, go to http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S31880133 8 Black Saddlebags, 3 Green Darners, and 23 Monarchs were observed migrating. Predictions: Mainly sunny with moderate-strong E to SE winds. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Sean Jenniskens ([email protected]) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) - 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 Visit the OFO Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists
