Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 647 647 65368
Osprey 0 0 24
Bald Eagle 5 5 337
Northern Harrier 6 6 897
Sharp-shinned Hawk 22 22 8511
Cooper's Hawk 3 3 218
American Goshawk 0 0 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 14 14 345
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 4331
Red-tailed Hawk 59 59 1854
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 17
Golden Eagle 1 1 45
American Kestrel 0 0 1703
Merlin 1 1 88
Peregrine Falcon 1 1 87
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 0 2
Total: 759 759 83829
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Hugh Kent, Ian Woodfield, Liz Kent, Michael Arthurs,
Mike Jaber
Visitors:
Thanks to Mike A, Mike J, Hugh, Liz and Ian for helping with the count
today. We were visited by Dawn from Ohio, Pat and Julie from Mackinnon,
Donald from Wardsville, Ray from Chatham-Kent, Alex from DC, Hallie from
Chicago, Bella from MZ, John from Chicago and Rob from Chicago. Several
school groups brought in by ERCA also visited us in the morning.
Weather:
This morning I arrived at the tower to discover the wind coming from the
West, not ideal but a nice change after the past few days. Soon after it
shifted WSW, not what was forecasted and certainly not a favourable
direction. For the rest of the morning the wind retained a southerly
component, while dark and stormy clouds rolled towards us from the West.
Just after 12:00 rain began to fall, but it only lasted for around 20
minutes. When the rain band ended the wind shifted WNW and the sky began to
open up, changing to 50% cloud cover. The wind was fairly strong all day,
averaging 15kph but gusting to 30kph at times. Those conditions held for
most of the afternoon, though it started clouding over significantly at
16:30. The temperature started at 6 Degrees C in the morning and rose to 15
C in the afternoon, though it felt cooler with the winds. The barometer
went up from 29.93 to 30.05.
Raptor Observations:
The morning was quite slow for raptors, with only one or two birds recorded
each hour. After the rain hit and the sky cleared up, we saw a nice flight
begin over the marsh, which lasted from 12:30 until 15:00. As is the norm
this time of year, the bulk of the birds were Turkey Vultures (647),
followed by Red-tailed Hawks (59) and Sharp-shinned Hawks (22). Highlights
included an immature Golden Eagle and a juvenile Peregrine Falcon.
Non-raptor Observations:
Due to the strong winds in the morning, we saw a reduced songbird flight.
We recorded under 900 blackbirds this morning, a stark contrast to
yesterdays numbers. Two species that were moving in numbers though were
American Robin (957) and American Goldfinch (935), both passing by until
mid afternoon. 108 American White Pelicans were recorded, 100 of those
leaving the marsh in the early morning and flying West. 96 Tree Swallow
were observed today, high numbers for this late in the year. Other
highlights today included; 1 Eastern Meadowlark, 98 Rusty Blackbirds, 1
Pectoral Sandpiper and 6 Purple Finches.
67 species were observed from the tower today, for the full list click this
eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S201038262
Predictions:
Tomorrow is meant to be a cooler day, with a daily high of 11 C. The wind
should be from the North for most of the day, but it's meant to be
nonexistent at under 5kph. The sky is also meant to be sunny. I can't
guarantee it will be a great day, but I think there should be a good number
of birds migrating past, as they've been held up for the past 5 days.
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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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