Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 219 23464 23975 Osprey 0 5 122 Bald Eagle 3 82 140 Northern Harrier 3 492 936 Sharp-shinned Hawk 30 3867 8302 Cooper's Hawk 5 139 203 Northern Goshawk 0 7 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 33 284 286 Broad-winged Hawk 1 60 13000 Red-tailed Hawk 170 1512 1573 Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 2 Golden Eagle 7 45 45 American Kestrel 0 329 1934 Merlin 2 34 89 Peregrine Falcon 0 32 76 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: 473 30354 50690 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Jim Dunn, Mary Carnahan Observers: Clive Hodder, Don Taylor, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan Visitors: We had 2 visitors, Jian Q. and Gary who got some great photos of today’s birds. Weather: Cloud cover was variable throughout the day, with about 60% to start, decreasing through the next couple of hours, then building again as the afternoon progressed. In the end, we had poor light and with the ESE winds, high birds. Just after 1:00 PM, the wind shifted to SSE, eventually driving the flight path north, beyond our view at the B&B, so observers also moved north, ending up at “the ridge” about halfway between Sparta and Fruit Ridge Lines. Temperature to start the morning was a reasonable 6 degrees Celsius, rising to 11 C. by afternoon, but easterly winds made it feel cooler. Still, with lots of sunshine in the morning, it was really a very pleasant day. Raptor Observations: 273 birds were tallied this afternoon, of which ONLY 219 were Turkey Vultures. The remaining 254 were migratory raptors, which suggests that the majority of TVs have already passed through our hawk watch. The 254 raptors were comprised of 9 of the 14 raptor species that normally migrate through Hawk Cliff. The majority were Red-tailed Hawks at 170. Red-shoulders were next in line with 33 counted today followed by Sharp-shined Hawks at 30. As well, we tallied 3 Bald Eagles, only 3 Northern Harriers, 5 Cooper’s Hawks, and 2 Merlins. That leaves 2 species of which the most interesting was a single Broad-winged Hawk spotted in the afternoon at the ridge, while the most exciting of the day were the 7 Golden Eagles spotted mainly at the B&B while only 2 were seen farther north at the ridge. Non-raptor Observations: We have an abbreviated list of non-raptor sightings today, as all eyes were focused on the raptor flight throughout the watch. However, observers at the Cliff, the B&B and at the ridge reported a few noteworthy sightings. Throughout the morning, there was a huge exodus of blackbirds composed mainly of very large flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds, but at the B&B there were also flocks of Am. Crows, including 3 flocks of about 200 each. Other migratory flocks were smaller, including Eastern Bluebird, American Goldfinch, American Robins, European Starlings and a couple of very small flocks of Blue Jays totalling only about 20 birds. Many Robins, Blue Jays, Starlings, Bluebirds and Goldfinches were hanging around in the trees and bushes up and down Hawk Cliff Rd as well. Incidental sightings from the knoll, at the B&B and at the ridge were Pileated Woodpecker, 3 Tundra Swans, Great Blue Heron, Northern Cardinal, Black-capped Chickadee, Cedar Waxwing, White-throated & Song Sparrow. On the insect front observers reported only 1 Cabbage White and 1 Clouded Sulphur (butterflies) today. Predictions: For Tuesday, the forecast is calling for Easterly winds starting out in the morning at about 13 km / hr, rising to 20 km / hr by 3:00 PM with gusts to 28 km / hr. As well, cloud cover will be near 100 % throughout the day and some “hazy sunshine”. These are not great conditions for migrating birds, nor are they ideal conditions for viewing migratory raptors. Rain is expected to begin late Tuesday and continue into early Thursday morning as a developing storm over the American Midwest converges with the remnants of hurricane Patricia, bringing extremely high winds and upwards of 50 mm of rain to Southwestern Ontario. Definitely not good hawk watching weather! Thursday, some clearing is expected, with very strong winds from the WSW, but at present, the forecast for Friday is for NW winds at 30 km / hr with clearing skies – chilly conditions but great highly conducive to raptor migration at Hawk Cliff. ======================================================================== 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