Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 5 9 9 Osprey 2 36 36 Bald Eagle 7 30 30 Northern Harrier 5 90 90 Sharp-shinned Hawk 27 150 150 Cooper's Hawk 3 10 10 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 10 10 Red-tailed Hawk 3 10 10 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 29 318 318 Merlin 2 11 11 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 1 1 1 Total: 84 676 676 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Gwen Patrick, Kory Renaud, Paul Pratt Visitors: We had a few visitors today: people from La Salle, a couple from South Carolina, and 2 from Windsor. Weather: Temperatures rose to 26C and the wind swiveled more than half the compass, starting in the NNE, then E, S and ending from the SW. We definitely were experiencing the "blue skies of invisibility", with virtually no cloud cover. Raptor Observations: Today certainly didn't provide the amazing flight that was expected. Most of the raptors seen were exceptionally high in the sky, and there were most certainly more lost to sight in the blue sky. Two more Merlins were seen, munching on dragonflies, as well as over 20 American Kestrels. Turkey Vultures, Osprey, Bald Eagles, Northern Harriers, Sharpies, Cooper's Hawks, and a few juvenile Red-tailed Hawks were also seen migrating. Non-raptor Observations: There was not a lot of migrating non-raptors flying past the tower today (83 Cedar Waxwings and 31 American Goldfinches) but feeding around the tower was a different story! 12 species of warbler were observed, as well as a Brown Thrasher. Dragonflies were: 2 Twelve-spotted Skimmers, 6 Black Saddlebags, 2 Common Green Darners. 11 Monarchs. See today's eBird list for all species http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S24974432 Predictions: A chance of rain through the day with winds from the North. Hopefully the clouds will keep birds at a visible height! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jenna McDermott (jmcdermo@alumni.uoguelph.ca) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/