Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2010 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 8 32 32 Osprey 5 31 31 Bald Eagle 3 15 15 Northern Harrier 11 35 35 Sharp-shinned Hawk 26 60 60 Cooper's Hawk 8 19 19 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 6 12 12 Red-tailed Hawk 42 67 67 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 31 120 120 Merlin 5 10 10 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 5 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Mississippi Kite 0 1 1 Total: 145 407 407 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:15:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9.75 hours Official Counter: Jim Pawlicki Observers: Bob Pettit, Jim McCoy, Mike Fitzpatrick, Sarah Rupert Visitors: Many today with many eyes to help spot the birds including Sarah Rupert, Mike Fitzpatrick, and Jim McCoy. Weather: Starting out clear and cool, then heating up and becoming partly cloudy in the afternoon with a light NE wind. Raptor Observations: A number of birds were very high today while some passed a bit lower for better looks. Most of the flight was made up of Red-tails, Sharp-shins, Kestrels, and Harriers with small numbers of few other species mixed in. Non-raptor Observations: Many today including 23 sp. of Warblers with 22 being seen from the tower. The Warbler show was exceptional at various times with birds-eye views of Warblers bathing in frenzies at the edge of the pond. It was not unusual to see 6-8 individual birds of 5+ species in one binocular field at once, and in one instance 4 m. and 1 fem. Black-throated Blues were visible together in one SCOPE view! Totals included: Blue-winged, 6 Tennessee, 19 Nashvilles, 3 N. Parulas, Yellow, 4 Chestnut-sided, 8 Magnolia, 7 Cape May, 6 Black-thr. Blue, 6 Yellow-rumped, 3 Black-thr. Green, Blackburnian, Pine, Palm, Bay-breasted, 12 Blackpoll, 12+ "Baypoll," 3 Black-and-white, 3 Redstart, Ovenbird, 2 N. Waterthrush, 3 C. Yellothroat, 7 Wilson's, and Canada. Other notable birds included 6 C. Nighthawks, 2 Philadelphia Vireos, White-eyed Vireo, juv. Red-headed Woodpecker, Olive-sided Flycatcher, and Lincoln's Sparrow. Predictions: Increasing cloudiness with 60 percent chance of showers late in the afternoon with risk of a thunderstorm. Wind southeast 20 km/h. High of 22C. Should be some raptors on the move. Join us for our first weekend of Festival of Hawks tomorrow and Sunday; details are at: http://www.hbmo.org/Festival_of_Hawks_2009.pdf. See you there! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jim Pawlicki (Jmpawli88@aol.com) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/ Directions to site: Entering Canada from Detroit at the Ambassador Bridge: After Canadian Customs, stay left 50 yards, passing over the railroad tracks. You are now on Huron Church Road leading to Highway 401 and Highway 3. Continue east 3.8 miles to the intersection with Todd and Cabana roads. Go through the intersection, staying to the right. In less than 100 yards the main road splits; 401 and 3 continue to the left as the main road and Huron Church narrows and angles to the right. Follow Huron Church right for 0.5 miles to Disputed Road. After angling a right turn onto Disputed Road, travel south. PLEASE OBEY SPEED LIMITS, they aer usually monitored. At 4 miles Disputed Road intersects with Townline Road, and the name changes to Concession 5. Continue south 5 miles and Concession 5 "T"'s with South Townline Road. Turn left and travel east 0.2 miles, turning right (south) onto Concession 6. Continue south for 3.4 miles to the intersection with Highway 20 at Malden Centre in the town of Amherstburg. There is a restaurant/convenience/gas store on the southeast corner of the intersection. Go through the intersection south onto Route 50 for 1.3 miles. The entrance to the Holiday Beach Conservation Area is on the right. Pay entry fee and continue to the Hawk Tower at the south end of the park. Park vehicle and walk to the tower. West bound on Routes 401 and 3 Howard Avenue, Route 9, intersects Routes 401 and 3 east of Windsor. Take Howard Avenue south to Highway 20 ("T"'s) and turn right (west) traveling (about 2 miles) to Malden Centre in the town of Amherstburg. A restaurant/convenience/gas store is on the left. Turn left (south) on to Route 50 for 1.3 miles; the entrance to HBCA is on the right.