Holiday Beach Conservation Area
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 11, 2012
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 0 2659 31797
Osprey 0 0 82
Bald Eagle 0 13 152
Northern Harrier 1 25 446
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 109 5520
Cooper's Hawk 4 70 589
Northern Goshawk 0 3 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 195 472
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 6055
Red-tailed Hawk 2 1852 3262
Rough-legged Hawk 0 5 15
Golden Eagle 0 21 30
American Kestrel 0 4 937
Merlin 0 3 87
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 51
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 9
Unknown Buteo 0 16 22
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 2
Unknown Raptor 0 0 5
Black Vulture 0 0 1
Gyrfalcon 0 0 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 3
Total: 9 4976 49541
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Justin Bosler
Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Dorothy McLeer, Karen Padbury,
Larry Ludwicki
Visitors:
A whopping 43+ visitors came out to enjoy the unseasonably nice weather. I
am pretty sure that that's a record high count for the date! It was nice to
see Karen Padbury, John and Chris Craft, Dennis and Gwen Patrick, and
Dorothy McLeer among others.
Weather:
Partly to mostly cloudy skies with temps. increasing from 9.5 C to a
comfortable 13 C. As forecast the winds were largely South with a minor
Easterly component, and ranged from 10 to 20 kph, which was happily much
lower than predicted.
Raptor Observations:
Similar to yesterday, only slower. The first raptor was a Northern Harrier,
passing at about the same time as the goshawk yesterday. By 2:00 PM we had
tallied 9 certain migrants, and possibly one more Cooper's Hawk that I
didn't include.
Later in the afternoon, when we had just about given up watching the sky,
a probable dark morph Gyrfalcon came in low right above us. What was
likely the same dark immature Gyrfalcon that eluded capture a week ago at
the raptor banding station showed up at 2:25 PM this afternoon. While
everyone was chatting/ not paying much attention to the largely sterile
skies, it came in fairly low toward the Tower and passed by on the south
side. By the time I and others got on the bird it was severely backlit and
flying (or, should I say lumbering!) away toward the Lake Erie shoreline.
It abruptly turned east and then, most interestingly, perched in one of the
large cottonwoods. However, it was almost entirely obstructed by the tree
and what was visible was backlit. Our opportunity to nail the ID and obtain
more satisfying looks was quickly dashed. In mere moments it jumped off the
perch and cruised low up the shoreline to the east - only visible as a
silhouette through gaps in the trees and branches.
I chased it down at 3:00 PM hoping for a better look and, most
importantly, a photo, but came up empty. It was apparently last seen by a
visiting couple along the shoreline near the west end of the Lake Erie
Country Club.
Non-raptor Observations:
Of greatest interest was another Cave Swallow at 8:15 AM. This one was a
little closer to the Tower and heading east.
There were no true winter finches today. I tallied about 360 American
Goldfinches and only ~15 Pine Siskins.
Scores of Rusty Blackbirds today with over 350 tallied. Most provided good
looks as they perched in the trees around the Tower. A few small flocks
heading back east (the "wrong" direction) were assumed to have been counted
earlier.
Predictions:
Rain can be expected with an approaching cold front. Upwards of 6-10 mm of
rain likely. It will also be breezy with winds out of the West-Southwest.
Surprisingly, the winds aren't predicted to turn around to the North
following the front. Tuesday might prove somewhat fruitful with West winds,
but it doesn't look good for Wednesday or Thursday.
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Report submitted by Justin Bosler (justin.bos...@gmail.com)
Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at:
http://hbmo.org/
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
