Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2012 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 613 23881 26583 Osprey 0 16 82 Bald Eagle 0 29 127 Northern Harrier 8 145 380 Sharp-shinned Hawk 29 1876 5198 Cooper's Hawk 29 302 448 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 203 215 Broad-winged Hawk 0 94 6055 Red-tailed Hawk 83 531 806 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 4 6 American Kestrel 14 164 919 Merlin 1 23 75 Peregrine Falcon 0 24 49 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 9 Unknown Buteo 0 3 6 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 2 2 Unknown Raptor 0 0 5 Black Vulture 0 0 1 Gyrfalcon 0 1 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2 Total: 780 27300 40969 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Todd Pepper Observers: Donna Bedard Visitors: Only one brave sole, Donna Bedard from Mississauga for her annual visit to HBMO. Weather: A cool and rainy day. It rained heavily from 7:30 EST to 9:00 EST and continued with light rain until Noon EST. Winds were generally out of the north-west in the 13 - 18 km/hr range. Temperatures ranged from a high of 11C at time of opening dropping to 8C around 13:00 EST and then warmed up a couple degrees again before closing. Raptor Observations: It started slow with no raptors in the first 2 hours, but then picked up after the heavy rained stopped. Ended up the day with 780 birds of 8 species. A good showing of Red-tailed Hawks at 83 birds, although most of them were up in the stratosphere. Non-raptor Observations: Passerine migration was also fairly slow, although a couple of interesting sightings including a lone Sandhill Crane and 3 flocks of Eastern Bluebird totalling 32 birds. The Blue Jays have dwindled to none, but there were 3,100 American Crow; 554 Red-winged Blackbird; and, 280 American Robins. American Goldfinch continue to pass over in ones and small flocks and totaled 24 birds. Also a small flock of 6 American Pipit. Around the base of the tower were both species of Kinglet; Swamp, White-throated, Vesper and Song Sparrows; Black-capped Chickadees; and Yellow-rumped Warblers. Predictions: A mostly cloudy day, with a low possibility of scattered showeres in the morning. Temperatures are forecast to range from 7C - 11C; and winds out of the north up to 25 km/hr. Should be a good day for buteos, and perhaps even a Golden Eagle or two. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Todd Pepper (pepper_todd@yahoo.ca) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/