Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 31, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 495 18665 19733
Osprey 0 60 338
Bald Eagle 2 83 223
Northern Harrier 80 781 1595
Sharp-shinned Hawk 316 6644 13897
Cooper's Hawk 25 206 308
Northern Goshawk 2 7 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 108 313 324
Broad-winged Hawk 0 509 99105
Red-tailed Hawk 722 1642 1706
Rough-legged Hawk 10 19 19
Golden Eagle 19 47 47
American Kestrel 2 879 4396
Merlin 2 46 186
Peregrine Falcon 0 29 81
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
Total: 1783 29930 141966
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Derek Lyon, Don Taylor,
Eric Jeffery, Fran Rew, Jason McGuire, Jennifer Lyon,
Jim Dunn, Jim Landau, John Potticary, Karen Landau, Kathy,
Keith Sealy, Mark Cunningham, Mary Carnahan, Phil Waggett,
Rose, Shay Redmond
Visitors:
Quite a few visitors today...including Tim, then Kirk and Kathy Mitchell
(Sarnia) and Jim and Karen Landau along with Fran Rew who travelled for the
day from the Buffalo area. A big thankyou to all observers and counters
that made it out today.
Weather:
It's been a struggle this October to get all the right conditions together
at the same time and today was no exception.
The winds were light to moderate from the NW (the GOOD) ....BUT the few
breaks in the clouds filled in quickly as the sky took on the look of
squalls (the BAD) and eventually came rain sometimes mixed with snow
pellets (the UGLY!!!). Luckily, we managed to dodge most of this moisture
which helped with the flight. The temp made it to just 9C.
Raptor Observations:
Given the somewhat rotten weather today's flight was a bit of a surprise
with a total of 1,783 birds. This now makes 2010 the 2nd best season
count....we're currently at 141,966 birds tallied. There's still a chance
of this season becoming the highest count ever if we can get another
roughly 10,000 birds (the highest count is 151,726 from 2000).
The favourable wind direction and less stormy weather FINALLY brought some
buteos and in fact the bulk of today's flight was Redtails (722)...followed
by TV's (495) and Sharpies (316). Northern Harriers were again very
consistent today with a total of 80...16 of which were males (the males
tend to migrate later in the season). Coopers (25) put in a good showing
and we got a couple more Goshawks (both young birds).
Highlights for the day included a mix of Roughlegs (dark morph (4) and
light morph (6) and a great flight of Golden Eagles (19)....many very low
with the heavy cloud cover. Of these, there were a few adult looking birds
(3) and a mix of juveniles and immatures (16). It's interesting to this
many Goldens to provide a comparison of plumages...and to see what kind of
molt is happening in the wings and tail.
Non-raptor Observations:
Observers at the Cliff and at the B&B today spotted 41 non-raptor species
in total with numerous highlights. New bird for this season was a NORTHERN
SHRIKE seen perched in a leafless poplar at cliffside. Hawkwatchers
reported seeing both COMMON & RED-THROATED LOONS, while birders along HC Rd
had great looks at 6 WOODPECKER and 8 SPARROW species. Woodpeckers were
DOWNY, HAIRY, RED-BELLIED & PILEATED plus NORTHERN FLICKER & YELLOW-BELLIED
SAPSUCKER. The sparrows were FOX, SONG, LINCOLN'S, CHIPPING, AM. TREE,
WHITE-CROWNED & WHITE-THROATED plus DARK-EYED JUNCO. There were lots of
PURPLE FINCHES and a couple of birders had nice sighitngs of HERMIT
THRUSH.
No dragonflies today!
Predictions:
Monday is now looking very promising....with predicted NE winds. Hopefully,
there's some cloud around to aid in spotting the birds.
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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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