Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Turkey Vulture 32 210 232
Osprey 2 12 12
Bald Eagle 10 70 73
Northern Harrier 3 159 178
Sharp-shinned Hawk 80 1325 1327
Cooper's Hawk 2 49 50
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 766 1390 1402
Red-tailed Hawk 7 248 288
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 2 376 384
Merlin 1 38 38
Peregrine Falcon 2 17 17
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: 907 3895 4002
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Hugh Kent
Observers: Andrew Fix, Chad Cornish, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber,
Patrick Tomlinson, Peter Veighey, Steve Wagner
Visitors:
Big thanks to all the observers today helping to spot the distant raptors -
Andy, Chad, Liz, Mike, Patrick, Peter and Steve. It was good to see Dennis
on the Tower and to meet Jack from Pennsylvania, Tracey and Jim who were
lucky to see the Broad-winged Hawk kettles. Good to talk with Lori and Jim
from Brantford who were very interested in the Hawk Watch.
Weather:
The wind started light from the north east and then shifted to the south
east around midday. The temperature rose from 18c to end at 27c, giving us
a hot afternoon. The cloud cover never rose above 20%, and the visibility
stayed good with gradually falling pressure.
Raptor Observations:
At last we observed some reasonably sized Broad-winged Hawk (766) kettles
brought in on the northern aspect of the wind appearing high to the north
east. The majority were seen in the third hour. Sharp-shinned Hawks (80)
mostly came past in the morning and Turkey Vultures (32) are beginning to
get the migration bug. Eleven species were seen with low numbers of the 3
falcons.
Non-raptor Observations:
Blue Jays are also beginning to increase with 6620 seen today, mostly in
the morning. Good numbers of Tree Swallow (490) were seen hawking on the
marsh, but songbird numbers were low with only 88 American Goldfinch
passing by. Seven warbler species were seen around the Tower. A Little Gull
was spotted amongst a large flock of Bonaparte's Gull (246) hawking for
insects over the trees to the north east. The list is at
https://ebird.org/checklist/S195517562
Predictions:
Tomorrow will be similar to today with a slight north aspect to the wind
for the first part of the morning. The mix will probably be similar, but
the big question will be how many Broad-wings may appear.
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Report submitted by Hugh Kent ([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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