Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 26, 2019
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 11 5138 54374
Osprey 0 0 36
Bald Eagle 0 39 232
Northern Harrier 1 329 786
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 410 5378
Cooper's Hawk 2 82 319
Northern Goshawk 0 0 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 5 606 821
Broad-winged Hawk 0 6 25779
Red-tailed Hawk 11 4339 5157
Rough-legged Hawk 0 21 21
Golden Eagle 0 23 26
American Kestrel 0 23 1733
Merlin 1 13 120
Peregrine Falcon 0 10 61
Unknown Accipiter 0 3 8
Unknown Buteo 0 13 25
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 3 7
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 33 11058 94890
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Maryse Gagné
Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Dan Loncke, Dave Martin, Kory Renaud,
Linda Wladarski
Visitors:
Many visitors today! Thank you Dan Loncke who was on the tower in the
morning and thankfully saw the first few birds of the day.
I was joined later by Dave Martin, Linda Wladarski, Kory Renaud, and Bob
Hall-Brooks for the rush of raptors, which we were all glad to see.
Finally, I was also joined by John Barnes in the morning and Mike Belanger
in the afternoon. Thanks to everyone!
Weather:
A beautiful day on the tower, with a warm sun and very slight winds from
the South-West. The day was so nice that for a brief hour we shed our coats
and sweaters! The wind shifted towards the East as the clouds came in later
in the afternoon, and without the sun, the air cooled dramatically.
Raptor Observations:
To everyone's surprise, we counted 33 raptors today! Most migrants all came
at the same time, from 11-1pm, with a really busy hour from 12-1. We
counted the usual Red-tails, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks but a few
Red-shouldered Hawks (5) made an appearance with a few remaining Turkey
Vultures (11). Only one immature Northern Harrier, but the most interesting
bird was a female Merlin flying right above the tower!
Non-raptor Observations:
Still quite slow on the non-raptor front, but we had a good few American
Goldfinches and American Crows migrating over. The most interesting
sighting was that of a butterfly, either an Eastern Comma or a Question
Mark butterfly, spotted around the tower. I did say it got warm today!
Check out our full eBird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61777698
Predictions:
Tomorrow looks to be a write-off, for a few reasons. We are expecting a lot
of rain overnight and continuing until late in the morning and picking back
up in the afternoon. Additionally, we are expecting very strong winds from
the South-West, potentially gusting up to 60-80km/h. Possibility of a quick
count mid-day if the wind does not threaten to push me off the tower.
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Report submitted by Maryse Gagné (maryse.gagn...@gmail.com)
Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://hbmo.ca/
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100
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