Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 12, 2024
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Turkey Vulture 139 3367 68088
Osprey 0 0 24
Bald Eagle 6 67 399
Northern Harrier 14 134 1025
Sharp-shinned Hawk 29 237 8726
Cooper's Hawk 27 78 293
American Goshawk 0 0 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 75 271 602
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 4331
Red-tailed Hawk 226 1441 3236
Rough-legged Hawk 1 10 27
Golden Eagle 6 71 115
American Kestrel 0 3 1706
Merlin 4 14 101
Peregrine Falcon 1 7 93
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: 528 5700 88770
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:45:00
Total observation time: 8.75 hours
Official Counter: Hugh Kent
Observers: Chad Cornish, Jeremy Bensette, Larry Ludwicki, Liz Kent,
Michael St. Pierre, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman,
Peter Veighey
Visitors:
A big thanks to Chad, Mike, Noel, Liz, Peter, Jeremy, Mike St P and Larry
for all the help on what was a fairly busy day. It was good to see Heather
and Alban, Rob from Ann Arbour and Neil from Detroit who all took an active
part in the Hawk Watch.
Weather:
Moderate to strong wind from the north initially, turning north east mid
morning. Temperature around 8c, initially overcast but gradually clearing
by early afternoon. Visibility good and pressure constant.
Raptor Observations:
A good day. Big flight close to the tower mid morning of Red-tailed Hawk
(226 day total) and Red-shouldered Hawk (75 day total), with Red shoulders
leading the way initially. Then a reasonably constant 25 per hour Red-tails
for the rest of the day with Red-Shoulders tailing off in the afternoon.
Turkey Vultures came through in a few small groups in the middle of the
day. Golden Eagles (6) flew past close to the shore in two groups late
morning and late afternoon. Sharp-shinned Hawks (29), Coopers Hawks (27)
and Northern Harriers (14) were spread throughout the day, accompanying the
Buteos. A Rough-legged Hawk was a nice finish to the day.
Non-raptor Observations:
Reasonable flights of American Goldfinch (337), Rusty Blackbird (408) and
Cedar Waxwing throughout the day. American Crows (9850) seemed to pepper
the sky constantly. Duck numbers have reduced a bit, with the exception of
Gadwall and Mallard, but there was good diversity with twelve species seem.
Dunlin (40) flew in and settled on the marsh for a time and it was good to
see both American White Pelican (12) and Sandhill Crane flying by. A
white-winged Crossbill was heard calling as it flew over at height near the
end of the day. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S202313100.
Predictions:
Tomorrow is forecast to be a similar day to today with one vital exception
- the wind will be moderate from the east. This means the we will probably
have fewer numbers than we did today, but not necessarily a different mix.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Hugh Kent (hughnk...@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.
