Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1061 56180 58077 Osprey 0 3 24 Bald Eagle 0 157 284 Northern Harrier 29 323 846 Sharp-shinned Hawk 77 2899 8270 Cooper's Hawk 6 110 200 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 283 284 Broad-winged Hawk 0 73 4331 Red-tailed Hawk 15 1123 1495 Rough-legged Hawk 0 8 8 Golden Eagle 0 18 18 American Kestrel 2 326 1698 Merlin 2 24 81 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: 1193 61567 75699 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Mike Jaber Visitors: Thanks to Mike for joining me for a few hours in the morning. Besides Mike I didn't see a single person on the tower today, so it was a quieter day than normal up there (probably the quietest this fall). Weather: Today was a bit strange on the weather front, it just kept switching between different conditions. When I arrived at the site there was a light drizzle in the air, it was 11 C and 100% cloud cover. The drizzle was on and off for the next three hours, sometimes getting a bit stronger so I had to put the camera/data sheets back in the car. After 12:30 a patch of blue sky appeared to the west, which then turned into 50% cloud cover and a lovely day to be on the tower. by 14:00 the sky was almost totally clear... But then a fast moving and dark layer of clouds moved in from the southwest and by 15:20 it was dark and cloudy again, with a light mist over the lake. The only consistent things about the day were the South/Southwest winds (10kph or less). The barometer dropped to 29.83. I included some photos of the sky on the eBird list... for those interested. Raptor Observations: Considering the poor conditions for the majority of the day, I recorded a surprising amount of raptors (1,193). In the morning we saw a nice push of Northern Harriers, including 4 in one group. Harriers never seem to mind flying in a light rain. In the afternoon I enjoyed two hours of distant raptor flight over the treeline by the far side of the marsh, mainly Sharp-shinned Hawks (77) and Turkey Vultures (1,061). In the mid afternoon a passing Cooper's Hawk caught a Northern Flicker after a dramatic chase. Highlights today were 2 Merlin and the nice numbers of Northern Harrier (29). Non-raptor Observations: The rain put a damper on the morning songbird flight, so we recorded less species than normal today. Sparrow diversity was very good around the base of the tower today though, with 8 species recorded (highlighted by our first Fox Sparrow of the season). The American White Pelicans were less plentiful today (290), though the larger numbers could be foraging somewhere nearby. 380 Rusty Blackbirds foraged in the marsh beside the tower in the morning, the largest numbers we've seen this fall. Other highlights from today included; 1 Orange-crowned Warbler, 1 Blackpoll Warbler, 3 Common Loons, 9 Sandhill Cranes and 280 Tree Swallows. 74 species were recorded from the tower today. For the full list click this eBird link -https://ebird.org/checklist/S200236431 Predictions: Tomorrow looks like quite a promising day... Mainly sunny, a light Northwest wind and cooler temperatures. It should be a good day on the tower, with a decent chance of northern species such as Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk ======================================================================== 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 -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: birdnews@ontbirds.ca. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at birdn...@ofo.ca. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
