Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2008
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 575 21101 21299
Osprey 0 12 212
Bald Eagle 2 89 233
Northern Harrier 8 260 572
Sharp-shinned Hawk 52 3324 8181
Cooper's Hawk 5 140 195
Northern Goshawk 0 3 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 42 240 240
Broad-winged Hawk 0 12 100354
Red-tailed Hawk 358 1219 1225
Rough-legged Hawk 1 5 5
Golden Eagle 1 21 21
American Kestrel 0 1372 3792
Merlin 0 22 96
Peregrine Falcon 0 22 50
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 7
Unknown Buteo 0 1 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Mississippi Kite 0 0 1
Total: 1044 27843 136488
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Bill Smith, Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Dave Weare,
Don Taylor, Ed Taylor, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Maris Apse,
Mike Street, Phil Waggett
Visitors:
A tough day for everyone trying to spot the birds (understatement of the
day!!)...a big thanks to our visitors ....Clive Hodder (Oakville), Kathy
Knott, Lois Evans...and the usual suspects (see the list of observers /
counters).
Weather:
BLue skies, blue skies and more blue skies!! OK...so viewing was difficult
today to say the least. Winds were initially from the N but swung to NE for
most of the day until the last couple of hours when it went quickly E and
then S. Temp was VERY cool in the morning with a temp of just 2C but well
below zero with the windchill. Lower humidity and steady high pressure.
Raptor Observations:
Despite the difficulty seeing the birds today the total was still
impressive with 1044 birds tallied. Interestingly, since the day we got our
first Golden Eagle this season, we've had at least one pass by the hawk
watch each day since then. However, we almost missed out on one today...and
a big thanks to Kathy Knott (who just got started into hawkwatching this
season) for spotting a Golden Eagle crossing directly overhead!
Another decent flight of buteos with Redtails (358), Red-shoulders (42)
and a lone Roughleg...a nice dark-morph.
Non-raptor Observations:
Another good bird today was a Common Raven that flew directly overhead just
a couple of hundred feet up...and it actually did a bit of soaring behind
us after it had passed. Crows were passing through non-stop today...and
there were plenty of blackbirds on the move as well.
Predictions:
With predicted E winds there might be a bit of a flight in the
morning...but winds are then predicted to go SE which is our worst wind for
any kind of flight.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
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