Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 117 455 477 Osprey 0 20 20 Bald Eagle 19 112 115 Northern Harrier 11 249 268 Sharp-shinned Hawk 242 3327 3329 Cooper's Hawk 3 63 64 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 51 2909 2921 Red-tailed Hawk 1 276 316 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 152 746 754 Merlin 0 44 44 Peregrine Falcon 4 23 23 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: 600 8225 8332 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman, Peter Veighey, Susan Weaver Visitors: Thanks to Peter, Noel, Alessandra, Hugh and Liz for helping me with the count today. Steve and Marion from the UK joined again, spending the majority of the day spotting birds with us on the tower. We were also visited by Heather and Alban from Windsor and Ronnie from Novia Scotia. I was reunited with some familiar faces from back home today when Cathy and Susan from Bruce County came up the tower today (they made a day trip down to hawkwatch with us today, which means a 10+ hour round trip drive!). Weather: Today we saw a drastic change in the weather compared with the last week, due to a low pressure system moving across Southern Ontario. In the morning the wind was strong out of the Northwest (15-20kph), with total cloud cover and a light spitting of rain from time to time. It was colder in the morning too (starting off at 16 C), a nice departure from the scotching hot days we've become used to. In the afternoon the wind stayed out of the North, but gained most of a Westerly component as time went on. The wind also became much lighter in the afternoon, mainly below 10kph. The temperature topped out at 25 C. Between 11:30 and 14:00 we had intermittent breaks in the cloud, which increased temperatures on the ground and created some thermals. By late afternoon is was totally dark and cloud again though. Raptor Observations: It was a strong day for American Kestrels today, with 152 recorded. This was by far our best kestrel count of the season and hopefully the start of a larger push of this species. Sharp-shinned Hawks were also seen in good numbers (242), and Turkey Vultures broke into the triple digits for the firs time this year (117). Bald Eagles were also recorded in higher numbers, with 19 migrating over. 4 Peregrine Falcons flew along the shoreline during the morning, including 3 at one time circling together. What about the Broad-winged Hawks you're probably wondering? Well, the Broad-wing flight was a bit of a flop today, with only 51 seen. We were hoping for more since Point Pelee and Detroit River were posting numbers in the 100s, but it just wasn't meant to be for us. The cloud cover was quite high during the day, so there likely weren't enough good thermals and the wind may have been a bit too Westerly for their liking (picky birds). The raptor banders brought several birds up the tower for us today, highlighted by Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel and 2 Cooper's Hawks. Non-raptor Observations: Due to the strong wind, it was a slower day for passerine diversity at the tower. The Blue Jay flight only started around 11am today and petered out (pun intended as Peter was clicking them) just after 1pm, with the end total being 3,390. Only 4 warbler species were seen today, Common Yellowthroat, Blackpoll, Tennessee & Yellow-rumped Warblers. There was a solid Tree Swallow movement westward over the marsh today, with a minimum count of 2,300 birds. Waterfowl were abundant in the marsh, with every expected species of dabbling duck recorded. Pectoral Sandpipers, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs and Wilson's snipe flew over in the morning. 71 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list see this eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S196268925 Predictions: Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be out of the Southeast/East, with a chance of rain or a thunderstorm during the day. We aren't predicting a huge flight, but you never know what could happen if the wind shifts and the rain holds off. ======================================================================== 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