Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2015 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 3620 4131 Osprey 0 3 120 Bald Eagle 0 14 72 Northern Harrier 0 144 588 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 672 5107 Cooper's Hawk 2 10 74 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 8 10 Broad-winged Hawk 0 49 12989 Red-tailed Hawk 2 47 108 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 1 103 1708 Merlin 0 9 64 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 48 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: 10 4684 25020 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Jim Dunn Observers: Don Taylor, Mary Carnahan Visitors: Visitors were Becky Kynn Radley and Lynne Seguin fro London. Weather: A very pleasant day at Hawk Cliff, great for a walk along the cliff or in the woods, but for raptor migration, not so much. Winds were predominantly ESE at low velocity. Cloudy conditions early gave way to nice fall sunshine be late morning, with temperature reaching 19 degrees Celsius. Raptor Observations: Even the Turkey Vultures weren't flying today --- weather more conducive to sticking around than migrating. Observers tallied a total of 10 birds in the 4-hour watch; in total we had 4 species including Sharp-shinned Hawk (5), Cooper's Hawk(2) and Red-tailed Hawk (2) and American Kestrel (1). A Monarch Butterfly crossed the observation knoll way up high with the AK. Non-raptor Observations: In addition to the "usuals" we had many highlights today including 3 Eastern Phoebes together along the edge of the bean field, both adult and juvenile Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, 1 Mallard, Blue-headed Vireo, migratory Blue Jays (3500 by the end of the first hour), and mobs of White-throated Sparrows everywhere. As well, there were several Song Sparrows along the edge of the cliff, a few of them below and a couple more in the tangled sumach near the old Mulberry Tree. Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers were also seen, along with Black-capped Chickadees and White-breasted Nuthatches, House Wren, Winter Wren, and both species of Kinglet (Ruby- and Golden-crowned). 12 species of Warbler were found, with multiples of most species; these were Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Palm, Black-throated Green, Blackpoll, Am. redstart, Tennessee, Nashville, Orange-crowned, Northern Parula and Common Yellowthroat, Northern Cardinal and Eastern Towhee were found in the woods and along the pond path. Predictions: Tomorrow is looking like mainly westerly winds at low velocity -- not sure what that will bring. Temperature will be pleasant (high teens by afternoon) but cloud will persist. Wednesday looks much better for raptor watching with NW winds at about 20 k p h. ======================================================================== 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