Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 15 22188 24393 Osprey 0 19 53 Bald Eagle 0 47 184 Northern Harrier 0 54 282 Sharp-shinned Hawk 19 1377 5911 Cooper's Hawk 1 54 205 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 15 54 Broad-winged Hawk 0 25 36331 Red-tailed Hawk 0 347 602 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 1 6 American Kestrel 0 219 925 Merlin 0 6 53 Peregrine Falcon 0 18 36 Unknown Accipiter 1 2 17 Unknown Buteo 0 22 49 Unknown Eagle 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 3 4 Unknown Raptor 0 10 33 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 36 24409 69141 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Jim McCoy Visitors: We were happy to answer questions and chat with four people from Wallaceburg, Ontario today during one of the breaks in the rain. Karen also stopped by at the end of the watch and got to look at some Northern Shovelers, since the raptors were avoiding the rain! Weather: Though it drizzled/rained off and on all day, it was still pleasant on the tower. A warm breeze (4-16km/h) came from the SE and the temperature hovered between 17 and 20C. Raptor Observations: The SE wind wasn't doing us any favours today with the birds, so by the end of the watch there'd been 36 birds of 3 species (Turkey Vultures, Sharp-shinned Hawks, Cooper's Hawk). Quite a few birds were going the wrong direction for migration, namely 70 Turkey Vultures that popped up out of the west and made a few floating passes along the beach before heading back from whence they came. A juvenile Northern Harrier tried to glide sneakily by from West to East, and two of our resident juvenile Bald Eagles hung around for the first hour of the morning. Non-raptor Observations: We didn't have many big numbers of passerines flying over in comparison to the past few days, but there was a nice variety in the trees and around the tower. Yellow-rumped Warblers were jumping all around in the bushes, and there was a nice look at some Rusty Blackbirds that stayed in a nearby tree for a few minutes. An exciting time during the day was the sudden appearance at 3pm in the marsh of a flock of 90 Bonaparte's Gulls with a nice mix of juveniles and adults. See today's eBird list http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S20234444 Predictions: The rain should be gone by the morning but winds still from the S and E. Even if there's not many raptors flying, there's always a lot going on the marsh! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jenna McDermott (jmcde...@mail.uoguelph.ca) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
