Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 347 626 626 Osprey 8 216 245 Bald Eagle 12 136 136 Northern Harrier 67 653 683 Sharp-shinned Hawk 318 6467 6484 Cooper's Hawk 12 84 85 Northern Goshawk 1 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 6 11 11 Broad-winged Hawk 795 98462 98475 Red-tailed Hawk 1 35 49 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 128 3308 3362 Merlin 3 127 129 Peregrine Falcon 9 44 44 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: 1707 110170 110330 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours Official Counter: Colin Horstead Observers: Beth Wigle, Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Derek Lyon, Don Wigle, Jason McGuire, Jennifer Lyon, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mark Cunningham, Mary Carnahan, Paul Thomas, Peter Booker, Phil Waggett, Ronnie Goodhand Visitors: Lots of visitors again today...including another group from the OFO conference. Weather: A strange day for weather...heavy fog to start...eventually breaking out to a mix of low and high cloud. Winds were light from the N....then became variable. Temp was cool to start at 10C then reached a high of 16C where it remainded for most of the count period. There were obviously good thermals as indicated by the building of cumulous clouds by late morning. Raptor Observations: With such an ugly start to the day...the count turned out not too bad with a total of 1707 birds tallied. We hit our highest species variety this season with 13 of 15 observed including the first Goshawk of the fall. The bulk of todays flight was Broadwings (795), TV's (347) and Sharpies (318). A good count of Peregrines (9) is hopefully a lead up to the coming week when the bulk of these speedsters pass Hawk Cliff. Non-raptor Observations: Today's non-raptor highlights included some species that we know are still around but don't see every day including WARBLING VIREO, BROWN THRASHER, and EASTERN TOWHEE. As well, a couple of very early birders found a male SCARLET TANAGER in the woods while both regulars and visitors enjoyed a healthy warbler count with 13 species in total, including CAPE MAY, many YELLOW-RUMPED, BLACKBURNIAN, TENNESSEE, NASHVILLE, COMMON YELLOWTHROAT and a couple of MAGNOLIAs. Friday's rain left some large puddles on the cabin path, which provided a few birders with lovely sightings of 3 - 4 species of warbler simultaneously enjoying a puddle bath. One observer noted 2 BLACK-THROATED GREEN, 1 BLACK-THROATED BLUE and a WILSON'S splashing around together in the early afternoon. Hawk watchers on the mound also get to see some interesting non-raptors fly by including today's 1 GREAT BLUE HERON, numerous CANADA GEESE, 2 GOLDEN PLOVERS, 1 SANDHILL CRANE and 8 SCAUP (too distant to decide whether greater or lesser!). Not to be outdone, the insect world made a good showing today with many cabages and sulphurs (both species) plus question mark, several red admirals and still many monarchs. As well, we are still seeing lots of common green darners and black saddlebags. Predictions: Monday morning may prove fruitful if the winds hold to the predicted NE 20kph with sun and cloud mix. However, the rain is coming sometime Monday afternoon and Tuesday looking like a washout at this point. ======================================================================== 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