Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 11, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 52 3228 67949 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 0 61 393 Northern Harrier 6 120 1011 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 208 8697 Cooper's Hawk 3 51 266 American Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 196 527 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 4331 Red-tailed Hawk 5 1215 3010 Rough-legged Hawk 0 9 26 Golden Eagle 0 65 109 American Kestrel 0 3 1706 Merlin 2 10 97 Peregrine Falcon 1 6 92 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 0 2 Total: 75 5172 88242 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Chuck Sharbaugh, Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman Visitors: Thanks to Mike, Hugh, Liz, Juliette, and Noel for helping out today. Chuck and Lucretia visited us from Michigan to help spot birds for most of the morning. For Remembrance Day, a 2 minute silence was given at 11:00 to remember the fallen. Weather: The morning started off at 8 degrees C, with strong winds out of the southwest and an overcast sky. For the remainder of the day, the winds were very strong (25-40 kph) out of the southwest, increasing as the day went on. The temperature increased in the afternoon, but with the windchill it often felt colder on the tower. The sky was overcast all day in a classic November fashion with dark looming clouds rolling overhead. Sunshine broke through occasionally, though it was only small blue pockets and never remained very long. The pressure was very low today, averaging around 29.60. Raptor Observations: It was a slow day for raptors on the tower, though much better than yesterday! In the morning we saw several Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks fly past the tower, which kept us entertained. Two groups of Turkey Vultures passed by today but besides that there was little activity. Our highlights were two Merlins, and one Peregrine Falcon. Non-raptor Observations: The high wind led to an overall lower day for species diversity, with a much reduced morning songbird flight. American Goldfinch (148), Cedar Waxwing (195), and Rusty Blackbird (554) were the only three species that were moving in numbers. Two American White Pelicans linger in the marsh and it seems the large numbers have have moved on. Five late Tree Swallows flew by in the morning, and despite my best efforts I couldn’t turn them into the much desired Cave Swallow. Other highlights today include 4 Great Egrets, and 5 Sandhill Cranes. 53 species were observed from the tower today (not including migrating raptors). EBird list available here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S202211641 Predictions: Tomorrow looks like it will be a good day on the tower with moderate North winds and partial sunny skies. We expect a nice push of raptors after they’ve been held back by poor weather for the past several days. ======================================================================== 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