Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 117 455 477
Osprey 0 20 20
Bald Eagle 19 112 115
Northern Harrier 11 249 268
Sharp-shinned Hawk 242 3327 3329
Cooper's Hawk 3 63 64
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 51 2909 2921
Red-tailed Hawk 1 276 316
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 152 746 754
Merlin 0 44 44
Peregrine Falcon 4 23 23
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: 600 8225 8332
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Alessandra Kite, Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman,
Peter Veighey, Susan Weaver
Visitors:
Thanks to Peter, Noel, Alessandra, Hugh and Liz for helping me with the
count today. Steve and Marion from the UK joined again, spending the
majority of the day spotting birds with us on the tower. We were also
visited by Heather and Alban from Windsor and Ronnie from Novia Scotia. I
was reunited with some familiar faces from back home today when Cathy and
Susan from Bruce County came up the tower today (they made a day trip down
to hawkwatch with us today, which means a 10+ hour round trip drive!).
Weather:
Today we saw a drastic change in the weather compared with the last week,
due to a low pressure system moving across Southern Ontario. In the morning
the wind was strong out of the Northwest (15-20kph), with total cloud cover
and a light spitting of rain from time to time. It was colder in the
morning too (starting off at 16 C), a nice departure from the scotching hot
days we've become used to. In the afternoon the wind stayed out of the
North, but gained most of a Westerly component as time went on. The wind
also became much lighter in the afternoon, mainly below 10kph. The
temperature topped out at 25 C. Between 11:30 and 14:00 we had intermittent
breaks in the cloud, which increased temperatures on the ground and created
some thermals. By late afternoon is was totally dark and cloud again
though.
Raptor Observations:
It was a strong day for American Kestrels today, with 152 recorded. This
was by far our best kestrel count of the season and hopefully the start of
a larger push of this species. Sharp-shinned Hawks were also seen in good
numbers (242), and Turkey Vultures broke into the triple digits for the
firs time this year (117). Bald Eagles were also recorded in higher
numbers, with 19 migrating over. 4 Peregrine Falcons flew along the
shoreline during the morning, including 3 at one time circling together.
What about the Broad-winged Hawks you're probably wondering? Well, the
Broad-wing flight was a bit of a flop today, with only 51 seen. We were
hoping for more since Point Pelee and Detroit River were posting numbers in
the 100s, but it just wasn't meant to be for us. The cloud cover was quite
high during the day, so there likely weren't enough good thermals and the
wind may have been a bit too Westerly for their liking (picky birds).
The raptor banders brought several birds up the tower for us today,
highlighted by Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel and 2 Cooper's Hawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Due to the strong wind, it was a slower day for passerine diversity at the
tower. The Blue Jay flight only started around 11am today and petered out
(pun intended as Peter was clicking them) just after 1pm, with the end
total being 3,390. Only 4 warbler species were seen today, Common
Yellowthroat, Blackpoll, Tennessee & Yellow-rumped Warblers. There was a
solid Tree Swallow movement westward over the marsh today, with a minimum
count of 2,300 birds. Waterfowl were abundant in the marsh, with every
expected species of dabbling duck recorded. Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater
and Lesser Yellowlegs and Wilson's snipe flew over in the morning.
71 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list see this
eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S196268925
Predictions:
Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be out of the Southeast/East, with a
chance of rain or a thunderstorm during the day. We aren't predicting a
huge flight, but you never know what could happen if the wind shifts and
the rain holds off.
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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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