Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 4434 60282 63282 Osprey 0 5 46 Bald Eagle 32 124 248 Northern Harrier 23 334 706 Sharp-shinned Hawk 185 3378 8581 Cooper's Hawk 37 200 291 American Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 127 280 280 Broad-winged Hawk 2 140 56725 Red-tailed Hawk 313 857 1032 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 3 Golden Eagle 0 9 9 American Kestrel 13 1406 2601 Merlin 0 27 122 Peregrine Falcon 5 48 86 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 5171 67094 134013 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Chad Cornish Observers: Andrew Wiebe, Chuck Sharbaugh, Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Karen Padbury, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin Visitors: Big thanks to Chad for being the Official Counter today. With the big numbers of raptors he was very happy to have help from Andrew, Noel and Juliette, Karen, Matt and Paul who all did a great job. It was good to see again Andrew, Kara, George and Edmund on the Tower. Also Sam, Becky and Ally from the Passerine banding team. It was good to meet Amelia and Jack and Darren who were interested in the Hawk Watch. Weather: The wind remained generally from the north all day, moderate and sometimes strong. The sky was clear initially but clouded over mid morning. The temperature gradually increased from low to high teens by mid afternoon but reduced in the last couple of hours back to the low teens. Visibility was good. Raptor Observations: Another great day with good numbers of many raptors passing close to the tower, sometimes at height. Turkey Vultures (4434) unsurprisingly took the podium, followed by Red-tailed Hawks (313) and then Sharp-shinned Hawks (185). Red-shouldered Hawks (127) had a good day with the best count this season so far. Buteos and Accipiters mostly flew with the Turkey Vulture streams. Good numbers of Bald Eagles (32), Cooper's Hawks (37) and Northern Harriers (23) were also seen. A few American Kestrels (13) appeared and Peregrines (5) passed in greater numbers than recently, with one executing a spectacular stoop at a bunch of Starlings. Non-raptor Observations: Pretty similar day to yesterday with numbers generally maintained. One exception was American Crows (15,980) who drifted by in large black clouds. Blue Jays are now diminishing in numbers (730). The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S153285962 Predictions: Moderate wind from the north is forecast again for tomorrow, but the bad news is that there will be rain initially in the morning. The temperature will be lower not quite reaching 10c. It will be overcast. Maybe not so many raptors as today, but if it clears then there is a possibility of good numbers. We'll keep an eye on the weather and deploy when it clears up. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Hugh Kent (Hughnkent@gmail.com) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100