Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 22, 2013
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 2 78 85
Bald Eagle 12 71 71
Northern Harrier 15 167 172
Sharp-shinned Hawk 249 3593 3598
Cooper's Hawk 7 34 34
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 3 3
Broad-winged Hawk 310 56003 56003
Red-tailed Hawk 3 27 27
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 334 1135 1148
Merlin 4 46 46
Peregrine Falcon 0 11 11
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 2 2
Total: 937 61170 61200
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Dave Brown, Jennifer Lyon
Observers: Al Hurst, Bill Read, Ches Caister, Chris Burris, Dave Brown,
Derek Lyon, Don Campbell, Don Taylor, Gord Kozak,
Jason McGuire, Jennifer Lyon, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy,
Mac McAlpine, Mark Cunningham, Mary Carnahan, Paul Thomas,
Phoebe Campbell, Ronnie Goodhand, Wayne Parnall
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today as we completed the 2nd weekend of our Hawk Cliff
Hawkwatch open houses with a big thank you to the St. Thomas Field
Naturalists and Hawk Cliff Raptor Banders for all their efforts with the
shows and the booth. Thanks as well to all our observers and counters for
hanging in there despite the questionable weather for today's flight.
Weather:
Well...the forecast was for a day with a mix of sun and cloud...but instead
ended up being pretty much completely overcast with drizzle at times. This
definitely had a negative affect on the flight for the day even though the
winds were from the NW. Temp was cool under the heavy cloud cover reaching
a high of 14C...though it felt cooler.
Raptor Observations:
Today's flight was a bit of a surprise given the heavier overcast...likely
because the winds were in the NW helping bring what birds were on the move
down to the hawkwatch area. The total birds tallied for the day was 937.
The were quite a few Broadwings (310) still moving through, many of which
passed low over the hswkwatch because of the cloud deck. As a result,
visitors were treated to great views of both juvie and adult BWs. The
largest kettle of BWs was about 40 birds.
We also saw a decent flight of Sharpies (249) and at one point a young
Sharpie actually popped up right in front of the observers and went firing
through over the knoll not 5 feet above everyone's heads! It then passed
through the trees behind the observation knoll without even slowing down
showing just how well they're designed for flying through forested areas.
A bit of a surprise today were the Kestrels (334) as we tend to get higher
numbers on SW winds pushing up the Cliff. At one point there 22 AKs in the
sky at the same time in front of observers!
Other species included Osprey (2), quite a few Bald Eagles (12), N.
Harriers (15) including one youngster that cruised low across the field
right in front of everyone, Cooper's Hawks (7), a single juvie
Red-shouldered Hawk, Redtails (3), and Merlin (4) one of which sat for
several minutes in the "Merlin Tree" across the field in the front of the
bushlot.
Non-raptor Observations:
Many visitors and regular hawk watchers enjoyed a wonderful diversity of
non-raptor sightings today including 56 avian species of which 3 were new
for the fall season at Hawk Cliff. The "early birds" today were
White-throated Sparrows found at the gate about 100 metres north of the
observation knoll. As well, a Lincoln's Sparrow was seen in the same area
later in the morning. Spotted from the knoll was the third new species,
Rusty Blackbirds, which were seen flying across the field. Also this
morning numerous flocks of American Goldfinches and a flock of 25
Black-bellied Plovers were viewed by observers on the knoll as were 12
Common Loons and a Belted Kingfisher which perched in the "Merlin Tree"
chattering for a couple of minutes, then took off across the field.
Other avian highlights included many Red-eyed Vireos, 2 Flycatchers
(Eastern Wood-peewee and Eastern Phoebe) and 14 Warblers: these were
Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided, Cape May, Yellow-rumped,
Palm, Pine, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black & White,
American Redstart, Nashville and Common Yellowthroat. In addition,
observers up and down the road reported Blue-gray Gnatcatchers, American
Robin, Swainson's Thrush, Gray-cheeked Thrush, Song Sparrows, Cedar
Waxwings, Northern Cardinals, numerous Red-breasted Nuthatches as well as
White-breasted Nuthatches and many Gray Catbirds. Further, we had 5
species of Woodpecker today: Pileated, Hairy, Red-bellied, Northern Flicker
and Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. And those are just the highlights!
Few Monarch Butterflies were seen and only 2 Black Saddlebags
(dragonflies) were reported. Nevertheless, observers found numerous
caterpillars to enjoy and photograph, some of which have been identified as
Pearly Wood Nymph larva, Hickory Tussock Moth larva, Wooly Bear and Yellow
Bear. As well, a very small Katydid dropped in on one of the observers on
the knoll, and a White-lined Sphinx Moth was reported across from the
knoll.
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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
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