Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 73 544 566
Osprey 0 20 20
Bald Eagle 4 117 120
Northern Harrier 46 303 322
Sharp-shinned Hawk 245 3589 3591
Cooper's Hawk 9 73 74
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 464 3373 3385
Red-tailed Hawk 4 280 320
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 239 990 998
Merlin 0 47 47
Peregrine Falcon 4 33 33
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: 1088 9370 9477
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Alessandra Kite, Chad Cornish, Chip Ogglesby,
Chuck Sharbaugh, Hugh Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman
Visitors:
Big thanks to all my fellow counters, especially those who dedicated hours
to clicking Blue Jays :) Mike, Noel, Hugh, Chad, Chuck, Alessandra and Chip
joined me for various parts of the day. Andy and Carole visited from
Michigan, Steve and Marion returned for another day (visiting from the UK).
We were also joined by Neil for a lot of the day.
Weather:
I arrived at the site just before 07:00 and felt a nice Northeast wind in
my face... a good start! The temperature for the morning could be described
as hoodie weather, with the North wind, dark sky and cooler temperatures
(17C starting off) putting a chill in the air. We were hoping the clouds
would clear as the day progressed, but it only grew more overcast, from 50%
to 90% by 15:00. For most of the day we could see a blue sliver of sky to
the North, taunting us. The wind decreased in speed a bit during the day
(18kph - 5kph), but remained out of the Northeast/North for the duration.
The barometer rose from 29.84 to 29.88.
Raptor Observations:
We were hoping for a large Broad-winged Hawk movement, but it wasn't meant
to happen it seems. The cloud cover may have hurt things (less thermals
and maybe birds above the clouds), or maybe the big numbers have already
passed. We did have a nice end to the day for them though, with 333 seen
during our last hour, some in low kettles. Besides the lower than expected
Broad-wing numbers, it was a good day for hawkwatching with over 1000
raptors recorded. Highlights were strong numbers of American Kestrel (239)
and Northern Harrier (46), as well as 4 Peregrine Falcons, always a fun
species to see.
Non-raptor Observations:
Over 100 species on the tower today!
It was a big day on the non raptor front, with the first few hours of
daylight keeping us very, very busy! There was a large increase in
passerines overnight (sparrows/thrushes/warblers) due to the first
favorable migration conditions in several days. when I arrived at the tower
I was greeted by the calls of many thrushes and White-throated Sparrows, as
well as the first Golden-crowned Kinglets of the season. Morning songbird
flight started off fairly quiet, but then the Blue Jays started pouring
through in the thousands after 08:30. After that we had a near constant
stream passing by for the next 2 hours, with flocks of warblers mixed in
with them. Warblers started dying off around 11:00, but jays continued to
pass by in smaller numbers for the rest of the day. In the end we recorded
72,100 Blue Jays, a very good count for our site! We also recorded over 300
warblers of 18 species, many flying overhead during the morning. American
Goldfinch also had a strong day, with 1,173 seen passing by. There were
many highlights and I recommend checking out the eBird list for the full
tally, but some notable ones included; 3 American White Pelicans, 7
American Pipits, 2 Indigo Buntings, 1 Bobolink, 2 Orange-crowned Warblers,
3 Red-headed Woodpeckers, 15 Pectoral Sandpipers and 1 Black-bellied
Plovers,
We saw 103 species from the tower today (!!), our highest total for the
season so far. Click the link below to see the full eBird list
https://ebird.org/checklist/S196572773
Predictions:
Tomorrow the winds are predicted to be stronger in the morning (gusts of
30kph), increasing in strength as the day goes on. Winds aloft will be
mainly out of the East and very strong, associated with the edge of
Hurricane Helene system moving towards the Great Lakes. The sky is
anticipated to be mainly clear. It's hard to say how productive it will be
for raptors, but I expect some birds to be moving in the morning.
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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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