Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2014 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 607 43178 45383 Osprey 0 19 53 Bald Eagle 7 92 229 Northern Harrier 14 168 396 Sharp-shinned Hawk 182 3008 7542 Cooper's Hawk 11 124 275 Northern Goshawk 1 7 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 77 257 296 Broad-winged Hawk 12 42 36348 Red-tailed Hawk 117 1015 1270 Rough-legged Hawk 1 6 6 Golden Eagle 6 16 21 American Kestrel 5 313 1019 Merlin 4 22 69 Peregrine Falcon 0 25 43 Unknown Accipiter 0 6 21 Unknown Buteo 0 120 147 Unknown Eagle 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 5 6 Unknown Raptor 0 19 42 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 1044 48443 93175 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:15:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.75 hours Official Counter: Cindy Isenhoff Observers: Chris Craft, Cramer, Dan Lumm, John Craft, Karen Padbury, Kory Renaud Visitors: Once the day warmed up we had many visitors today. Most were from local areas near Windsor or Leamington. Many families were out just enjoying a warm and sunny fall day. Special thank yous today to Dan Lumm, Karen Padbury, and Cramer for all the help in spotting the distant and high flying raptors! Weather: A beautiful clear, sunny fall day today on the tower. Not a single cloud in the sky all day long. Temperatures started off at 9.7C and ended warming to 17.6C. Winds blew from the WNW most of the day, switching to W in the late afternoon. Raptor Observations: What a superb day today for raptors! The birds were very high due to the cloudless sky, and some were on the distant north edge of the marsh, but they came in droves on the WNW winds today! We had 13 species today, missing only the Osprey and Peregrine. There was only a short mid day lull in activity...and we finished the count with 6 Golden Eagles, with representation in each of the 3 age groups, one close Northern Goshawk, one close light morph Rough-legged Hawk and 12 Broad-winged hawks today for our "stars". Red-shouldered hawk numbers were close to that of Red-tailed hawks today. Turkey Vultures are still on the move as well. Non-raptor Observations: Once the raptors started moving there wasn't much time for song bird counts. The end of the day brought a huge movement of European Starlings thru the northern edge of the marsh...numbers approx 100,000! Most of these birds moved immediatley through the marsh, while a group of 10,000 or so flitted back in forth amoung the tree line on the north side for 30 minutes before finally moving on. One suprise today was a late afternoon lone Monarch! Other birds of note today: 1 American White Pelican; 23 Tundra Swans that landed in the marsh; 1540 American Crows; 479 Red-winged Blackbirds; 3 Horned Grebes at the lake Erie shore and approx 375 American Goldfinch. Also present today were 16 Great Egrets, Wood Ducks, Gadwall, Mallards, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, Ring-necked ducks, Sandhill Crane, Ruddy Duck, American Coots, Cedar waxwings, Ruby and Golden-crowned Kinglets, White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, American Robins, Blue Jays and even a couple Yellow-rumped Warblers. Predictions: Partly sunny with southerly winds. Temperatures a little warmer than today. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Cindy Isenhoff (akahawklady1@aol.com) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/