Holiday Beach
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2009
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 2424 34459 35714
Osprey 1 18 90
Bald Eagle 7 47 139
Northern Harrier 21 156 491
Sharp-shinned Hawk 383 3810 8972
Cooper's Hawk 52 493 677
Northern Goshawk 2 7 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 221 524 529
Broad-winged Hawk 1 117 18289
Red-tailed Hawk 955 2438 2660
Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 2
Golden Eagle 10 17 18
American Kestrel 62 678 1698
Merlin 5 50 113
Peregrine Falcon 2 55 89
Unknown Accipiter 1 1 7
Unknown Buteo 0 3 10
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 0 0 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 2 2
Total: 4147 42877 69510
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Justin Bosler
Observers: Bob Pettit, Jim McCoy, Karen Padbury, Martin Blagdurn,
Mike Fitzpatrick, Olga Klekner
Visitors:
A great bunch of spotters made it out to the Tower today and, as always,
their assistance was much appreciated. This fun and enthusiastic bunch
included Jim McCoy, Martin Blagdurn, Mike Fitzpatrick, Olga Klekner, Karen
Padbury, Bob Pettit, and Gerald Peltier.
Weather:
High overcast skies with Northeast to North-northeast winds at 8 to 15 mph,
and gusting in excess of 20 mph at times. Temps. climbed from a chilly 3.1
to a mild 6.8C. Visibility fair to good.
Raptor Observations:
The undisputed highlight of the day were the 10 imm. Golden Eagles, one of
which was banded on site at 1430 EST. A second consecutive day with an
excellent flight of Redtails. A good portion of the Redtails took advantage
of the strong tailwind to reach heights as high as the cloud bases. The
Turkey Vulture flight petered out a bit after a really big week.
Non-raptor Observations:
With such a busy raptor day there was little time spent on other bird
observations.
American Bittern- 1,
Black-crowned Night-heron- 3 (2 juv.),
Sandhill Crane, 6 (5 flyovers at 1115 EDT)
Greater Yellowlegs- 1,
Dunlin- 2,
Chimney Swift- 2 (getting late),
Tree Swallow- 100+,
N. Rough-winged Swallow- 15,
Blue Jay- 575+ (numbers thinning out),
Am. Crow- 2,205 (not much of a flight today),
Purple Finch- 5,
Am. Goldfinch- 1,170,
Predictions:
It appears as though the sun will break through the clouds tomorrow for the
first time in nearly a week. Mostly cloudy skies with North winds at 10 to
15 mph. High of 8C. Favorable winds should allow for good hawkwatching into
the weekend.
**Please note that there will be backups at the Ambassador Bridge on
Sunday as a result of the Free Press Marathon.**
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Report submitted by Justin Bosler ([email protected])
Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at:
http://hbmo.org/
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
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