Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 24, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 2668 55119 57016
Osprey 1 3 24
Bald Eagle 3 157 284
Northern Harrier 18 294 817
Sharp-shinned Hawk 56 2822 8193
Cooper's Hawk 6 104 194
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 6 282 283
Broad-winged Hawk 0 73 4331
Red-tailed Hawk 92 1108 1480
Rough-legged Hawk 5 8 8
Golden Eagle 5 18 18
American Kestrel 3 324 1696
Merlin 1 22 79
Peregrine Falcon 0 39 80
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
Mississippi Kite 0 0 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2
Total: 2864 60374 74506
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber,
Noel Herdman, Peter Veighey
Visitors:
Thanks to Hugh, Liz, Peter, Mike, Juliette and Noel for assisting with the
count today. We were visited by Brian and Fran from Kingsville, Jodie from
Guelph, Justin from Windsor, Karen from Windsor, Rob and Sherly from
Michigan.
Weather:
Starting off at 4 Degrees C, it rose to 15 C later in the afternoon. The
sky remained clear throughout the day, with less haze than previous days.
The wind started off from the North, but shifted NW and then West by 10:00,
eventually turning to South in the afternoon (very light all day, but
almost dying completely in the afternoon). The barometer remained around
30.01
Raptor Observations:
Better than the last several days for raptors, with 2,864 individuals of 12
species recorded. There was hardly any activity in the morning, but things
picked up significantly after 13:00 and in the afternoon we saw a nice, but
often very distant flight. The bulk of the birds were Turkey Vultures, with
2,668 recorded. We also saw a decent number of Red-tailed Hawks (92),
Northern Harriers (18) and Sharp-shinned Hawks (56). The highlights today
were 5 Golden Eagles and 5 Rough-legged Hawks, including two roughies that
flew right over the tower together near the end of the day.
Non-raptor Observations:
The American White Pelicans continue out in the marsh for another day, with
a minimum of 510 counted. There was a decent visible migration of
passerines in the morning, highlighted by; 46 Purple Finch, 458 American
Goldfinch, 2 Pine Siskin, 5,260 Red-winged Blackbird, 35 Rusty Blackbird
and a late-for-season Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher. Waterfowl continue to be seen
in the marsh, as well as lots of Pied-billed Grebes and American Coot. A
lone Savannah Sparrow at the base of the tower was our first of the season.
Other highlights today included; 1 Philadelphia Vireo, 2 Blackpoll Warblers
and 2 Sandhill Cranes.
80 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full eBird list
click here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S200141166
Predictions:
Tomorrow is meant to be another cool day, but with wind from the south all
day. There is also meant to be more cloud cover and a chance of rain (but
not too high). As of right now Saturday looks to be a much better day for
our site, with North wind and clear skies.
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Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (kiahbir...@gmail.com)
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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