Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2477 13016 14471 Osprey 1 6 73 Bald Eagle 2 27 131 Northern Harrier 18 143 465 Sharp-shinned Hawk 100 1333 6177 Cooper's Hawk 2 52 106 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 61 64 Broad-winged Hawk 0 152 16636 Red-tailed Hawk 4 107 210 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 5 199 1293 Merlin 0 6 43 Peregrine Falcon 2 11 29 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 9 Unknown Buteo 0 6 32 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Raptor 0 4 16 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 2611 15127 39760 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Jeremy Hatt Observers: Anne Bell, Carol Pitts, Donny Moore, Ed Pitts, Jerry DeMarco, Jim McCoy, Kory Renaud, Michael Williamson, Urban Lundburg Visitors: The warm weather brought many visitors to the tower today including a great group of veteran hawk watchers who frequently visit the tower. Many thanks to everyone who helped w/ distant Turkey Vultures and the Blue Jay clicker counts! Weather: A warm October day w/ very little cloud cover and temperatures up to 2OC. Winds were light all day (<5km/hr) starting from the northwest and shifting to the south by the afternoon. Raptor Observations: Turkey Vultures were in high number again today w/ 2,477 individuals flying by. This proved to be quite a challenge to count as many vultures were far to the north and visible only by scope view! Some of the kettles they formed were quite impressive. Sharp-shinned Hawk was the next highest count after TV's w/ 100 individuals. Two Peregrine Falcons flew close by the tower giving nice looks. Four Red-tailed Hawks flew by, the only buteos of the day. Northern Harriers put on a show w/ 18 individuals flying fairly close to the tower, a welcome sight compared to most other raptors, which were hardly visible w/ the naked eye. Non-raptor Observations: The highlight of today's count was a large movement of Blue Jays constantly streaming by in the hundreds. Our final total was 35,690 birds. American Goldfinches were also migrating in large numbers w/ a final count of 744 birds. Other notable counts: Chimney Swift: 13, Tree Swallow: 116, Red-winged Blackbird: 1541. Cedar Waxwing, Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch, Purple Finch, and Pine Siskin flew by in low numbers. A singing Yellow-throated Vireo next to the tower was a pleasant surprise. See today's eBird list http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S25369063 Predictions: Another warm day w/ temperatures reaching the high 60's. Southwest winds 25-30km/hr all day and low cloud cover. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jeremy Hatt (hattjeremy@hotmail.com) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/