Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2011 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 2 Osprey 6 39 54 Bald Eagle 0 10 10 Northern Harrier 24 83 116 Sharp-shinned Hawk 766 1779 1812 Cooper's Hawk 12 18 18 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 165 256 289 Red-tailed Hawk 1 1 4 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 380 729 827 Merlin 2 12 22 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 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: 1356 2927 3154 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 15:45:00 Total observation time: 9.75 hours Official Counter: Colin Horstead Observers: Al Hurst, Bill Reid, Ches Caister, Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mark Cunningham, Mary Carnahan, Ronnie Goodhand Visitors: Lots of visitors today...they got a pretty nice day to be out and enjoy some excellent hawkwatching! Thanks to everyone...Colin, Jim, Dave V., Mary, Ronnie, Bill, Mark, Al....the HC banders and St. Thomas field Naturalists for all their help today with the demos, talking to visitors and getting the count done. Weather: Not the best start for the morning with moisture in the air thanks to a big low over Illinois that was rotating rain showers from SE to the NW and W across Lake Erie(usually it's the other way around). The low eventually pulled away to the east and the skies were nearly perfect with some cloud cover but lots of blue too. Unfortunately, the wind was light for the entire count period...so even though it was from the NE initially it wasn't strong enough to really push the birds to the lakeshore. Temp to got to a high of 23C. Raptor Observations: Wow....quite the day for just the 10th of September! A total of 1356 birds were tallied of 8 different species...Osprey (6), Harriers (24), Sharpies (766), Cooper's (5), Broadwings (165), Redtail (1), Kestrels (380) and a couple of Merlins. The count was a bit tougher today thanks to the light wind ...the result was birds that were very spread out when crossing the viewing area...they never setup to a specific flight line. Non-raptor Observations: With many observers today, many excellent non-raptor species were reported including a good variety of Flycatchers...Great-crested, Least, Trail's and Yellow-bellied, plus Eastern Wood-peewee. Woodpeckers were also well represented in today's total including Pileated, Downy, Red-bellied and Norther Flicker. Hawkwatchers on the mound noted a single Common Loon as well as Great Blue (3) right over the observation knoll and a single Green Heron. In addition, hawkwatchers reported a flock of 12 Killdeer. The roadside and pathways produced a nice variety of songbirds, although the 9 Warbler species were all very busy feeding and generally bopping around. Observers reported lots of Magnolia and Am. Redstart plus Cape May, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Blackpoll, Black & White, and Mourning. Also new for this season's songbird list was a single Hermit Thrush near the mound. Many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds continue to blast their way westward and Monarch Butterflies were the subject of a special display and demonstration of butterfly tagging. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebrowns@ezlink.on.ca) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm