Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 22, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 12 338 360 Osprey 0 20 20 Bald Eagle 0 93 96 Northern Harrier 11 238 257 Sharp-shinned Hawk 238 3085 3087 Cooper's Hawk 2 60 61 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 2858 2870 Red-tailed Hawk 6 275 315 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 37 594 602 Merlin 0 44 44 Peregrine Falcon 0 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: 306 7625 7732 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Alessandra Kite, Chip Ogglesby, Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin Visitors: Once again, a big thanks is owed to Mike for helping me with the Blue Jay count in the morning. Hugh, Liz, Chip and Paul joined me for the majority of the day to help with the count, and Alessandra and Noel came by in the afternoon. Sarah, Neil and Margaret visited in the morning and enjoyed nice views of our banded raptors. Mary from Ruthven, Jennifer and Doug from Kitchener, Seleen and Paul from Leamington also popped by during the day. In the afternoon a group from the Canadian Association for Girls in Science visited us, learning about raptor migration and watching several Sharp-shinned Hawks and Osprey flyby. They were a very enthusiastic group who were keen to learn about bird migration and conservation, we enjoyed their time on the tower : ) Weather: The morning started off with a light breeze from the Southeast and the temperature sitting at a conformable 18 degrees C. There was some light fog in the air, but that quickly disappeared during the first hour. Clouds rolled in from the West/Southwest throughout the day, so for the most part we had a nice layer of cloud cover to shelter us from the sun. In the afternoon the wind died completely and it was very hot (27C) and humid on the top of the tower. The wind stayed out of the South/Southwest/southeast for the entire day. Around 3pm it cooled off several degrees as a band of rain moved in, but luckily we only got a few drops before we had to leave. The barometer dropped from 29.74 to 29.70 Raptor Observations: Quieter than the past few days on the raptor front, though this isn't a huge surprise given the poor winds. Sharp-shinned Hawks dominated again, though unlike the last 3 days their numbers dropped off significantly in the afternoon. American Kestrels passed by in small numbers, and 11 Harriers were seen flying past. The hawk banding crew brought us a Cooper's Hawk and a Sharp-shinned Hawk and released them off the tower, a nice treat for the visitors who were present. Not a single Broad-winged Hawk was observed today. Non-raptor Observations: It was another strong day for Blue Jays, with 20,370 observed, most of which came during a 3 hour period just after sunrise. American Goldfinch and Cedar Waxwing were recorded in lower numbers than the past few days, likely due again to the poor winds. Our first American Pipits of the season flew overhead in the afternoon, and our first American Coots of the fall swam out in the marsh. 11 warbler species were observed from the tower, with the most plentiful being Yellow-rumped Warbler (38). Other highlights included Philadelphia Vireo, American Golden-plovers and Pectoral Sandpiper (the latter two species flew over the marsh in the afternoon). 77 Species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list see this eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S196143962 Predictions: Tomorrow has a lot of promise, with wind out of the North/Northwest for the majority of the day. The only iffy thing at the moment is rain forecasted for some of the morning, though even if it does rain it will likely clear by the afternoon. We have our fingers crossed for a good day of migration, and maybe even some Broad-winged Hawk numbers! ======================================================================== 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