Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2024
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 1056 7630 9527
Osprey 0 1 22
Bald Eagle 4 57 184
Northern Harrier 7 97 620
Sharp-shinned Hawk 61 701 6072
Cooper's Hawk 3 46 136
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 5 6
Broad-winged Hawk 1 71 4329
Red-tailed Hawk 13 108 480
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 2 2
American Kestrel 4 186 1558
Merlin 2 6 63
Peregrine Falcon 2 13 54
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 0 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 1155 8923 23055
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Michelle Mastellotto, Mike Jaber,
Noel Herdman
Visitors:
Thanks to Hugh, Liz, Mike, Michelle and Noel for keeping me company today
and helping with the count. Several visitors to the conservation area
stopped by and were very happy to see the pelicans through our scopes.
Weather:
It started off a bit chilly today at 11 Degrees C, but warmed up to a
toasty 24 C in the afternoon. The wind started off light (5-10kph) out of
the Northwest, then shifted to straight West by 09:30 and eventually
South/Southeast by mid afternoon. The sky was mainly clouded over starting
off, changing to 30% cloud cover in the afternoon (very nice for spotting
against). The barometer dropped from 29.89 to 29.77.
Raptor Observations:
Fairly quiet today for raptors, though the diversity was nice with 12
species recorded. The bulk of our numbers today came from Turkey Vultures
(1,056), mainly in the span of 3 hours in the afternoon. Sharp-shinned
Hawks (61) and Northern Harriers (7) were in lower number today. the main
highlight was our 2nd Golden Eagle of the season, a nice immature bird that
passed by in the afternoon (just a bit too far for photos unfortunately).
We recorded all 3 falcon species during the last two hours of the count,
always a nice way to end off a day of hawkwatching.
Non-raptor Observations:
Despite being quiet for raptors, it was busy on the passerine front in the
morning. We counted 23,810 Blue Jays this morning, higher numbers than
yesterday but still lower than the peak over a week ago. 6 woodpecker
species were seen, highlighted by 18 Northern Flickers and 2 Red-headed
Woodpeckers. Warblers were migrating past the tower in good number this
morning, mainly Yellow-rumped (277) with smaller numbers of others such as
Tennessee (5), Northern Parula (2), Palm (3) and Nashville (4). 11 warbler
species total were recorded. Other notable birds today included; 72
American White Pelicans that spent the day in the marsh, our first Hooded
Merganser of the season and a flyover American Golden-plover.
87 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list click here
- https://ebird.org/checklist/S198051961
Predictions:
Tomorrow is meant to be slightly cooler than today, with sunny skies and
wind starting off from the Northwest, then shifting West by the afternoon.
If the wind stays from the North for longer, we may see a larger flight of
raptors than today. If it stays true to the forecast and shifts West, we
will likely see a similar flight to today.
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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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