Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2025
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 191 55128 57705
Osprey 0 13 43
Bald Eagle 3 298 463
Northern Harrier 3 310 746
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 2291 7254
Cooper's Hawk 2 160 287
American Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 299 299
Broad-winged Hawk 0 19 40251
Red-tailed Hawk 18 1395 1565
Rough-legged Hawk 0 7 7
Golden Eagle 0 31 32
American Kestrel 1 186 1147
Merlin 0 20 107
Peregrine Falcon 0 25 66
Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 20 21
Unknown Eagle 0 2 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 3 3
Black Vulture 0 1 1
Total: 224 60209 110000
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 7.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Daniel Lee, Juliette Herdman, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman,
Robin Smallwood
Visitors:
Thanks to Mike, Daniel, Robin, Noel and Juliette for helping out with the
count today. We were visited by Peter from Windsor, Ronny from Sarnia, as
well as several school groups brought in by ERCA.
Weather:
Another sunny, cloudless day on the tower, making raptor spotting a
challenge later in the day. The morning started off chilly at 3C, rising to
13C by the late morning. For the first two hours of the count we had a
moderate wind from the Northeast, though it didn't last long, quickly
shifting to the East and later the Southeast. The wind picked up
considerably in the afternoon too, with gusts over 40kph. The barometer
fell all day, ending off at 29.55.
Raptor Observations:
Very slow on the raptor front today, with only 1-5 birds seen most hours.
An occasional Red-tailed Hawk here, a small group of Turkey Vultures
there... etc. The wind briefly shifted to the northeast around 2pm, when we
saw a small influx of vultures and buteos. We ended the count early today
due to the lack of movement and poor conditions.
Non-raptor Observations:
Activity on Lake Erie was quite good in the early morning, which was nice
to see since there certainly were not many raptors to count! Bonaparte's
Gulls streamed by all morning, with a total of 430. Small numbers of terns
were also moving, mainly Common Tern (18), though a few Forster's Terns (3)
were mixed in. Forster's Tern is farily rare at HBMO, with these birds
being the first since 2022. 3 Horned Grebes, 3 Common Loons and a
Long-tailed Duck (2nd HBMO record all-time) were other highlights. The
morning passerine flight was on the quiet side of things today, with the
exception of good numbers of Cedar Waxwing (479). On the marsh 3 Common
Gallinule are lingering, along with 80 American White Pelicans and 3,000
Tree Swallows. The first Hooded Mergansers of the season were seen at the
back side of the marsh.
Predictions:
Tomorrow's conditions are looking a bit iffy out of the moment. The wind is
meant to be light from the Northeast initially (good), then shifting East
mid morning (bad) before going back northeast late afternoon. It is meant
to be mainly sunny with a very isolated chance for rain later in the day.
It could be a decent day for movement if the wind retains a northerly
component, but we'll have to wait and see!
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Report submitted by Kiah Jasper ([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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