Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 0 159 181
Osprey 0 10 10
Bald Eagle 0 59 62
Northern Harrier 7 148 167
Sharp-shinned Hawk 116 1140 1142
Cooper's Hawk 7 45 46
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 81 594 606
Red-tailed Hawk 0 239 279
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 6 361 369
Merlin 3 36 36
Peregrine Falcon 0 15 15
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Mississippi Kite 0 1 1
Total: 220 2807 2914
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Alessandra Kite, Cameron Chevalier, Chad Cornish,
Jeremy Bensette, Mike Jaber, Peter Veighey
Visitors:
Day two of Hawkfest occurred at the park today, with many visitors checking
out the vendors, food trucks and events. 175 people made the trek up the
tower, so it was a bit quieter than yesterday. The people who did come up
stayed for longer than those from yesterday however, enjoying the marsh
birds and the flyby Sharpies, as well as our resident Bald Eagles and
Osprey. The banding crew once again brought some passerines to the base of
the tower for us, with the crowds enjoying nice views and photos
(highlights Swainson's Thrush and Philadelphia Vireo). Thanks to Mike,
Chad, Peter, Patrick, Steve, Alessandra, Jeremy, Cam and Paul for helping
me with the count today.
Weather:
I can basically copy and paste the weather from previous days at this
point... 19 Degrees C rising to 26 C in the afternoon, under 10% cloud
cover all day, very light Southeast winds and a light haze in the air.
Unlike yesterday we didn't even get a hint of north winds. The barometer
remains just about 30.00.
Raptor Observations:
Quieter than yesterday, with 220 total raptors recorded. In the morning we
had a few small kettles of Broad-winged Hawks lift off, but they quickly
went inland and disappeared to the West. Sharp-shinned Hawk was our most
numerous raptor of the day, with 166 recorded. Some of those were
cooperative right over the tower, while others were barely visible specks
along the far treeline. 3 Merlins were the highlight for us, always a fun
species to see zipping by the tower.
Non-raptor Observations:
Less passerines were recorded compared with yesterday (both species and
numbers), though there were still some highlights around the tower. 12
species of warbler were recorded, highlighted by Wilson's and Blackburnian.
730 Blue Jays and 195 American Goldfinches were seen migrating over the
tower, as well as 1 migrant Red-headed Woodpecker mixed in with the jays. 3
Black-crowned Night Herons were spotted in the marsh today, along with
several Common Gallinule and 10 species of waterfowl. Other highlights
included Great Black-backed Gull, Common Nighthawks and Philadelphia Vireo.
On the non bird front, several Fiery Skippers near the base of the tower
were a fun highlight.
78 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list click this
eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S195283634
Predictions:
More Southeast winds tomorrow, so I expect the flight to be quite similar
to todays.
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Report submitted by Kiah Jasper ([email protected])
Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://hbmo.ca/
More site information at hawkcount.org:
https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100
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