Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 873 1875 1897
Osprey 1 21 21
Bald Eagle 4 124 127
Northern Harrier 101 504 523
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1164 5369 5371
Cooper's Hawk 8 89 90
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 1 1
Broad-winged Hawk 482 4246 4258
Red-tailed Hawk 6 332 372
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 68 1364 1372
Merlin 2 57 57
Peregrine Falcon 2 41 41
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
Swainson's Hawk 1 1 1
Total: 2713 14025 14132
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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: Hugh Kent, Kory Renaud, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman,
Peter Veighey
Visitors:
Thanks to Peter, Mike and Noel for helping me count Blue Jays in the
morning, it was much appreciated! Hugh and Kory also joined for several
hours today and assisted with the count.
Weather:
The wind deviated from the predicted shift to East today, giving us our
ideal Northeast winds for the entire day (5-15kph). The sky remained
overcast, with a minimum of 90% cloud cover in the afternoon. The
temperature fluctuated slightly between 18C and 23C. The barometer held
around 29.83.
Raptor Observations:
What a day! By far our best raptor day of the season, with 2,713 birds of
13 species observed. When I arrived at 7:30 I was immediately clicking
Sharp-shinned Hawks, a steady stream of them passing right over the tower.
In the next 20 minutes I counted over 100, with the rest of the morning
averaging over 200 sharpies per/hour. The final tally was 1,164, quite a
good count for our site. There was no question about the highlight bird
today though... at 1:30pm I was looking east when a gorgeous immature
Swainson's Hawk glided through my binocular view! This is a bird we don't
record every year, and always an exciting species to see in the province
(see the eBird list for photos). Today was also productive for Northern
Harriers, with 101 recorded (highlighted by a kettle of 6 together). We
also recorded our first Red-shouldered Hawk of the season this afternoon.
Non-raptor Observations:
It was a productive day for non raptors as well, with many passerines
observed migrating over the tower. American Goldfinches (1,255) and
Yellow-rumped Warblers (126) were out in good numbers today, with smaller
groups of Purple Finches, Cedar Waxwings and American Pipits mixed in with
them. Blue Jays were recorded in strong numbers again today, with 88,350
seen flying west past the tower. Other highlights included; 2 Brown
Thrashers, 2 Gray-cheeked Thrush, 24 Rusty Blackbird, 2 Blackpoll Warblers,
4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and a Common Merganser.
91 species and 99,001 individual birds were seen from the tower today. For
the full list see this eBird checklist
https://ebird.org/checklist/S197081155
Predictions:
Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be from the southwest, and there is a
chance of rain in the area. We don't expect a large flight, but you never
know what could happen this time of year.
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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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