Holiday Beach Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 14 14 Osprey 2 21 21 Bald Eagle 4 14 14 Northern Harrier 7 53 53 Sharp-shinned Hawk 187 793 793 Cooper's Hawk 0 24 24 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 20 252 252 Red-tailed Hawk 0 32 32 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 63 142 142 Merlin 3 14 14 Peregrine Falcon 1 7 7 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 2 Unknown Buteo 1 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 288 1370 1370 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Justin Bosler Observers: Jim McCoy Visitors: Jim McCoy and Wayne and Carmen Hudson kept me company about half of the day. An additional 6 visitors also stopped by to soak up the beautiful summer-like weather and look for migrating raptors. Weather: Partly cloudy with clouds thinning out through PM. Northeast to East-northeast winds early on turned East by late AM, and then Southeast by midday; winds ranged from 2 to 10 mph. Another unseasonably warm day with temps. topping out at 27C from a low of 18.5C. Visibility 4 to 20+ km. Raptor Observations: Continual procession of Sharpies today with ~21 birds per hour. Low numbers of Broadwings again today with only singles passing by here and there. Falcons, especially Kestrels, really started moving in the afternoon and peaked in number (21) in the final hour. Nearly doubled yesterday's Kestrel count for new single-day high this season at 63. I don't know why it is, but early evening often provides a good showing of the small falcons. I believe this is the case at most hawkwatches across the East. Non-raptor Observations: SNOWY EGRET/LITTLE BLUE HERON, 1 (seen briefly at a distance yesterday, 9 Sep, and observed perched in small tree at ~800-1000 meters today; hope it shows at closer range tomorrow to confirm ID) Black-crowned Night-heron, 8 Bald Eagle, 2 locals Shorebirds close enough to ID included Killdeer, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Solitary (2) and Pectoral (1) Sandpiper. Bonaparte's Gull, 2 (molting ads.) Ruby-throated Hummingbird, 16 Great Crested Flycatcher, 1 heard only Eastern Kingbird, 2 (flyovers late AM; getting late) Red-eyed Vireo, 1 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, 1-2 Cedar Waxwing, 65 Large morning flight of warblers going West along the lakeshore with many too high up to ID; vast majority by calls and visuals were Magnolia. 1 Cape May among 8 species ID'ed from Tower. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 1 Bobolink, 30 Purple Finch, 1 American Goldfinch, 215 Predictions: Mostly cloudy and warm with wind becoming Northeast at 10 to 15 mph late in the day. High of 22C. Could be another good day tomorrow. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Justin Bosler (justin.bosler@gmail.com) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/