Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 19, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1431 50714 52611 Osprey 0 2 23 Bald Eagle 4 152 279 Northern Harrier 25 260 783 Sharp-shinned Hawk 191 2622 7993 Cooper's Hawk 4 89 179 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 7 264 265 Broad-winged Hawk 0 72 4330 Red-tailed Hawk 36 989 1361 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 3 Golden Eagle 0 13 13 American Kestrel 1 317 1689 Merlin 2 17 74 Peregrine Falcon 0 34 75 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 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2 Total: 1701 55549 69681 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Alessandra Kite, Chad Cornish, Chuck Sharbaugh, Michael Arthurs, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin Visitors: Today was "HawkToberfest" at HBMO and we welcomed many visitors to the tower today. Thanks to Paul, Noel, Chuck, Chad, Alessandra, Erik, Karen and Neil for helping spot and count today. The HBMO team on the ground level also helped out a lot today, setting up tents, the tables and banners. The raptor banding and passerine banding teams brought us several birds in the morning, which were very popular with the birders present. Our list of visitors included; Justin and Cassie from Cambridge, Nicole from Hamilton, Craig from Indiana, Dani from Buckhorn, Réal from Kingsville, Ernest and Claudia from Windsor, Nick and Daniela from Windsor, Tom, Maj, Connor and Blake from Essex, Clair from LaSalle, Carol from Essex, Caro and Mary from Michigan, Sharon from Michigan, Brian and Billy from Windsor, Karen from Wheatley, Betty from LaSalle, Darlene and Katie from Kingsville, Allen and Denise from Leamington, Penny and Brian from Windsor, Donna from Chatham, Andrew from Windsor and Dianne & Don from Amherstburg Weather: The fog was thick today, very thick indeed. Driving into the park we had very reduced visibility, and once we got up on the tower we could only see out around 200 meters. It took until after 09:30 for the fog to clear, during which time there was a nice "fog rainbow". The wind was again out of the South/Southwest all day, dying completely at times and maxing out around 10kph. The sky remained completely clear all day, though there was some haze in the air. The temperature rose from 7 Degrees C to 21 in the afternoon, and the barometer held close to 30.30. Raptor Observations: Despite the poor conditions we still had a decent day for raptors, with 1,701 individuals of 9 species recorded. Turkey Vultures once again made up the bulk of those numbers (1431), with Sharp-shinned Hawk being the only other raptor to reach triple digits. 25 Northern Harriers were a nice treat, including several "grey ghosts". In the afternoon the flight was very far inland and almost lost in the heat shimmer, making counting quite challenging. Non-raptor Observations: Today was another huge day for American White Pelicans in the marsh, with a minimum of 598 counted (our highest number this fall). Since the raptors weren't very close to the tower the pelicans provided a lot of entertainment for our visitors today. We recorded our highest single day tally of American Goldfinch this season (1491), with several Pine Siskins and Purple Finches mixed in. Cedar Waxwings were also recorded in larger numbers than we've seen in several weeks. A late Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher foraged by the base of the tower, a bird we haven't seen here in weeks. The lingering Common Gallinule from yesterday continued today as well. On the shorebird front highlights were 10 Lesser Yellowlegs and 2 Wilson's Snipe. 78 species were observed from the tower today, for the full list click here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S199538821 Predictions: more of same weather wise tomorrow, Southwest wind, high of 20 C and a clear blue sky. We expect the flight line and numbers to be quite similar to today. ======================================================================== 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