Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 21, 2018
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 1626 9424 9760
Osprey 0 5 52
Bald Eagle 28 105 218
Northern Harrier 143 347 519
Sharp-shinned Hawk 851 3089 4366
Cooper's Hawk 63 141 184
Northern Goshawk 0 2 4
Red-shouldered Hawk 57 80 80
Broad-winged Hawk 7 46 5879
Red-tailed Hawk 114 246 296
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 15 17 18
American Kestrel 130 1554 2377
Merlin 12 86 132
Peregrine Falcon 1 56 79
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: 3047 15198 23964
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Chris Burris, Dave Brown, Tom Bolohan
Observers: Chris Burris, Jason McGuire, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan,
Matt Oswald, Tom Bolohan
Visitors:
Quite a few visitors today hoping for some Golden Eagles and most got at
least a couple. Thanks to everyone who was out to help with today's
count... Matt, Mac, Tom B, Chris B, Gary, Mark, Mary, Jason and Brian.
Weather:
The day started a bit rough weather wise with heavy cloud cover and little
wind. Eventually, the clouds broke out a bit and the wind picked up from
the NW then backed a bit to the W and then WSW. Temps were MUCH colder
starting at 2C and getting to a high of 4C.
Raptor Observations:
Despite the lousy looking weather to start we had a flood of raptors come
through at just over treetop level over the first 4 hours of the count.
Total birds for the day were 3,047 with a VERY large flight of Sharpies
(851)... one of the best Sharpie flights for back to back hours in a log
time (though we had quite a good flight back on the 13th too). We also saw
a great Northern Harrier flight with 143 of them passing through just above
the tree tops and some even right down on the deck. Surprisingly, close to
half of these harriers were males.
The definite highlights for the day were the 15 Golden Eagles... a few of
which were nice and low but most of them were quite high as they passed.
The age of these eagles varied from several probable young birds to a
couple that were sub-adult or perhaps full adult birds (remembering that
it's impossible to determine GOEA aging of birds in flight!).
Interestingly, after the winds swung to W it slowed the flight of Sharpies,
Cooper's and Kestrels BUT we had a nice flood of buteos in the last hour
with Redtails, Red-Shoulders and even a Broadwing to finish off the day.
Non-raptor Observations:
Some good non-raptors today as well with... Killdeer, woodpeckers: Downy,
Hairy, Red-bellied, Pileated and N. Flicker, Yellow-rumped and Palm
warblers, GC and RC Kinglets, Am. Goldfinch, Am. Robins, Am. Crow, Am.
Pipits, Sparrows: White-throated, Song and Swamp, RB Nuthatch, several
Common Loons, a few Blue jays, Hermit Thrush, Pine Siskins, Purple Finch
(lots) including a nice male that landed in the top of a tree and gave us
time to get a nice look at it in the scope.N. Cardinal, Blue-headed Vireo,
Blackbird flocks: C. Grackles, Red-wings, BH Cowbirds, Eastern Bluebirds
(lots), E. Starlings, a few Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, a couple of Belted
Kingfishers, Greater Yellowlegs, Wilson's Snipe, Eastern Phoebe, a VERY
LATE Eastern Pewee that was heard several times in the ravine and then was
actually recorded....a great bird for this late in October, a low flying
Great Blue Heron at the cliff, a flyby both Northern Pintail and Wood
Ducks, Black-capped Chickadees and Cedar Waxwings.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebro...@ezlink.ca)
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392
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