Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2013 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 3 40 47 Bald Eagle 0 14 14 Northern Harrier 1 23 28 Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 454 459 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 4 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 58 58 Red-tailed Hawk 0 10 10 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 115 128 Merlin 0 7 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 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: 11 726 756 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:30:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Jim Dunn Observers: Mary Carnahan, Shay Redmond Visitors: Thanks to Mary, Jim and Shay for sticking it out today in the heat. Weather: In a word...HOT! The day started at 25C and went up from there to a high of 32C (and even higher with the humidex). Winds were moderate from the SW for the day with hunidity dropping later in the day. Some cloud cover. Raptor Observations: Not much moving today with a total of just 11 birds tallied today...Osprey (3), a single N. Harrier and Sharpies (7) spread across the hours of the count period. Non-raptor Observations: Definition of a slow day at Hawk Cliff: a day when we have time to look at other avian species. Definition of a really slow day: a day when there are very few other avian species to look at. Highlights today were 3 Red-bellied Woodpeckers including 1 adult and 2 juveniles with red/brown heads... chattering and scolding from above and across from the observation knoll. In total we had 3 woodpecker species including very active Northern Flickers, several of which were seen flying back and forth across the field and Downy Woodpecker, also across from the knoll. No Warbler or Vireo species were seen or heard today, but for Flycatchers we did have Eastern Phoebe and Eastern Wood-peewee, both found in the woods. Gray Catbirds and Northern Cardinals continue to dominate the scene up and down the road. Not many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds were seen today with a count of less than 10 crossing the field. Today's Monarch Butterfly count was 11. Other bug sightings included a couple of Cicadas in the bean field, Least Skipper, Silver Spotted Skipper, Common Sootywing, Orange and Clouded Sulphur, Cabbage White, Eastern Tailed Blue (many, found in all the laneways up and down the road), Summer Azure, and thanks to Shay Redmond for his sightings of 2 Common Buckeye and a single Painted Lady. Predictions: The end of the week is looking more promising with what appears to be a cold front set to drop across the Great Lakes region (highs only in the teens) and winds from a northerly direction (though not predicted to be strong at this point). Keep in mind that this coming weekend is often the time we see the first really big push of Broadwings at Hawk Cliff so the timing might just work out for visitors. ======================================================================== 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