Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 53 326 348 Osprey 2 20 20 Bald Eagle 0 93 96 Northern Harrier 25 227 246 Sharp-shinned Hawk 385 2847 2849 Cooper's Hawk 1 58 59 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 664 2858 2870 Red-tailed Hawk 2 269 309 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 62 557 565 Merlin 0 44 44 Peregrine Falcon 1 19 19 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 Mississippi Kite 0 1 1 Total: 1195 7319 7426 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours Official Counter: Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin Visitors: Thanks to Mike for keeping me company in the morning and helping me count Blue Jays. Paul, Noel, Hugh and Liz came by later in the morning and helped for the rest of the day. We welcomed Brody from Barrie, Neil and Marg from Newmarket and Josh from Cottom. Lucas also visited us from Cleveland for the morning. Weather: Another hot and sunny day, starting off at 18 Degrees C and rising to 27. Only light cloud cover during the morning (under 20%), otherwise a clear blue sky. The wind started off from the Northwest, but by 11:00 it began to switch, going to West and eventually South by the afternoon. The barometer stayed around 29.73. Raptor Observations: Our biggest flight day of the season so far, with over 1100 raptors recorded. Sharp-shinned Hawks put on a good showing (385), the 3rd day in a row we've recorded strong numbers for them. Several kettles of 100+ Broad-winged Hawks got us excited in the late morning, but as soon as the wind shifted South the flight completely dried up. Despite that it was still nice to see hundreds kettling for the first time this fall. Northern Harriers and American Kestrels were also recorded in decent numbers. Non-raptor Observations: It was another morning for Blue Jays, with 16,400 seen migrating west past us. Their numbers have been growing daily for the past week now. It was also a good morning for songbirds around the tower, with 11 species of warbler and 3 species of vireo. A Brown Thrasher popped up from the shrubs briefly, our first one of the fall. In the late morning/early afternoon several groups of American White Pelicans (25 total) landed in the marsh, always a treat to see. The highlight bird was a Dickcissel that flew over just after sunrise, an uncommon species in Ontario and one that has only been recorded on the count a few times. 86 species were seen from the tower today, for the full list click this eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S195992627 Predictions: South winds are predicted for tomorrow, with clouds and eventually a storm rolling in during the afternoon. It will likely be quieter than today with less Broad-winged Hawks, but you never know! So far Monday is looking good with North winds, but there may also be some rain around... so keep an eye on the forecast! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (kiahbirder@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