Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 67 596 38615
Osprey 0 0 190
Bald Eagle 1 8 202
Northern Harrier 5 78 1187
Sharp-shinned Hawk 12 133 13212
Cooper's Hawk 9 32 441
Northern Goshawk 0 5 26
Red-shouldered Hawk 40 284 932
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 73020
Red-tailed Hawk 628 2269 4264
Rough-legged Hawk 2 14 23
Golden Eagle 23 53 200
American Kestrel 0 3 5090
Merlin 0 2 151
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 39
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 787 3478 137593
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Dave Brown
Observers: Doug Brown, Eric Jeffery, Evelyn Brown, Jacques Giraud,
Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan, Paul Brown,
Paul Thomas, Ronnie Goodhand, Tom Bolohan, Tom Stewart
Visitors:
A large group of visitors today including a great contingent from the OFO
(20+) led by Ian Platt (these folks were from locations all over Southern
Ontario...Watford, Sarnia, Guelph, London, Burlington to name a few). We
also had Paul, Doug and Ev Brown along with Eric J. (all of St. Mary's),
Iver and Lynn (hopefully I got your names right?) and many others that
would take too long to list. :) My thanks to all the visitors that helped
today and to the many counters who were also on hand...Dave B, Tom B., Jim,
Mary, Ronnie, Dave V. Jacques G., Paul T., Tom S. and Keith. (Hopefully I
didn;t miss anybody).
Weather:
A beautiful sunny day..with lower humidity and some great contrails
providing background cloud. Unfortunately, as we've seen for much of the
past month or more...the winds were right back to the SE today though
noderate in strength.Temp started at 4C and made it to 9C...though it felt
colder with the wind.
Raptor Observations:
A bit of a surprise today with the initial flight looking pretty good right
at Sharpie Alley. However, the winds were just strong enough to push the
flight line inland slightly and eventually I'm sure the birds were moving
through anywhere from Hawk Cliff all the way to London.
The total for the day was 787...and the BIG highlight of the day was the
23 Golden Eagles! The bulk of these eagles were observed in the hour 10-11
(EST). A good flight of Redtails (628) though picking up the flight line
was difficult at the height they were at. Also a smaller number of
Red-shoulders (40) along with a couple of light Roughlegs...one which
hovered out in front of us and then passed by nearly overhead providig some
nice photo ops. :)
A few Harriers were spotted first thing in the morning then not one was
spotted for the rest of the day. Other species seen included TVs (67), a
single immature Bald Eagle, Sharpies (12) and Cooper's (9).
Non-raptor Observations:
Hawk Cliff observers reported a few interesting non-raptor highlights today
including a Double-crested Cormorant, a Great Blue Heron, 225 Tundra Swans
(beautiful in today's sunshine!), and some fairly large flocks of American
Crows headed westward including one flock of at least 200 birds. Acting on
a tip from today's OFO visitors, one HC observer managed to spot a reported
Fox Sparrow (first for this season at Hawk Cliff, and found it foraging
along with White-throated and Song Sparrows, a couple of Blue Jays also
foraging on the ground. In addition, nearby were a single House Finch,
some Yellow-rumps nearby, a Pileated and a Red-bellied Woodpecker.
As the day warmed up, a few butterflies were also noted including 2
Monarchs, a Clouded Sulphur and 2 Eastern Commas which were sunning
together on tree bark.
Predictions:
More of the same weatherwise Sunday...though a bit warmer on S winds.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebro...@ezlink.on.ca)
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
Send bird reports to birdalert@ontbirds.ca
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
