Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2023
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 90 489 489
Osprey 1 30 30
Bald Eagle 16 86 86
Northern Harrier 36 221 221
Sharp-shinned Hawk 768 3661 3661
Cooper's Hawk 2 47 47
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 24246 56088 56088
Red-tailed Hawk 18 103 103
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 117 723 723
Merlin 7 74 74
Peregrine Falcon 2 13 13
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 25303 61535 61535
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Hugh Kent
Observers: Chuck Sharbaugh, Karen Padbury, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman,
Patrick Tomlinson, Steve Wagner
Visitors:
Many thanks to observers Chuck, Karen, Noel, Patrick, Steve, Leon, Matt,
Dave and Jane who helped spot the massive numbers of Hawks flying today.
Special thanks to Patrick and Steve who took over as official counter(s)
for the last two hours. It was good to meet Phil, Brenda and Keith, Denis
from Ann Arbor and other visitors who were lucky to see such a fantastic
spectacle of Broad wing migration.
Weather:
A good moderate wind from the north west all day. The sky started clear but
cloud cover gradually increased to midday but decreased again in the
afternoon. Temperature was around a comfortable 20c most of the day.
Visibility remained good all day.
Raptor Observations:
An amazing Broad-winged Hawk day. By mid morning we had about 3000 over,
mostly to the north, then it went quiet for a couple of hours until early
afternoon, when we had huge streams overhead and to the south for a couple
of hours with over 15,000 in one hour, finishing up with a count of 24,246
for the day. Sharp-shinned Hawks (768) were continuous throughout the day
with American Kestrels starting earlier than usual and flying past for the
rest of the day. A good number of Northern Harriers (36) floated by and
later in the day Turkey Vultures (90) were joining in. Another good day for
Merlins (7) and a few Red-tailed Hawks (18) accompanied the Broad wing
stream. All in all the best day yet.
Non-raptor Observations:
Ducks continue to increase with eight species seen, including a few small
groups of Northern Pintail flying into the Marsh. American Coot (5) were a
new species for the season, the first of very many! It was also nice to see
two Sandhill Cranes flying west over the marsh. Songbirds were quiet today,
probably due to the brisk wind. However a good number of Cedar Waxwing
(198) flocks flew west over the Tower. Monarch Butterfly (38) numbers were
lower today. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S150234610
Predictions:
The wind is light and starts from the north west in early morning, soon
turning to come from the south west for the rest of the day. Cloud cover
will increase as the day goes on. Temperature similar to today. It's likely
that we will not see big numbers of Broad wings but Sharp-shins and
Kestrels hopefully will keep coming.
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Report submitted by Hugh Kent ([email protected])
Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://hbmo.ca/
More site information at hawkcount.org:
https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100
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