Holiday Beach Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2009 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 745 40389 41644 Osprey 0 19 91 Bald Eagle 1 54 146 Northern Harrier 10 204 539 Sharp-shinned Hawk 29 4210 9372 Cooper's Hawk 8 574 758 Northern Goshawk 0 14 15 Red-shouldered Hawk 5 691 696 Broad-winged Hawk 0 120 18292 Red-tailed Hawk 80 3278 3500 Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 2 Golden Eagle 1 25 26 American Kestrel 1 699 1719 Merlin 1 54 118 Peregrine Falcon 0 60 94 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 7 Unknown Buteo 0 4 11 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 2 2 Total: 881 50400 77034 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Justin Bosler Observers: Jim McCoy, Olga Klekner Visitors: Jim McCoy and Olga Klekner were out to help spot for a better part of the day. Only two others, a couple from Quebec, stopped by throughout the day. Weather: Mostly to partly cloudy skies with Southeast to East-southeast winds at 1 to 10 mph becoming East by mid-PM. Temps. ranged from 11 to about 15C. Visibility fair to good. Raptor Observations: Clearing skies and a warming sun helped to get the large raptors going. Steady stream of Turkey Vultures to the north from late morning through late afternoon. Redtails also started flying by late morning and continued to pass in small numbers throughout the afternoon. Another poor day for Accipiters and falcons. A young Peregrine continues to hunt the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: 12 species of waterfowl, Black-crowned Night-heron- 5 (1 ad., 1 subad., 3 juv.) Great Egret- 8, Killdeer- 37, Greater Yellowlegs- 1, Dunlin- 2, Wilson's Snipe- 2, Chimney Swift- 30 (good count for date), Belted Kingfisher- 1 f, Hairy Woodpecker- 1, Horned Lark- 570, Tree Swallow- 25+, Blue Jay- 825, Am. Crow- 17,600, Eastern Bluebird- 22+, Am. Robin- 120+, Am. Pipit- 60, Cedar Waxwing- 242, Common Yellowthroat- 1 HY-m (lingering), Dickcissel- 1 (flyover late AM, heard only), Eastern Meadowlark- 2, Lapland Longspur- 9+, Purple Finch- 72 (Sunday count low; at least 45 in the 3-4 hrs. I was on the Tower), House Finch- 28, Pine Siskin- 3, Am. Goldfinch- 1,340. Predictions: Mostly cloudy skies with a chance of AM sprinkles. Southwest wind at 5 mph becoming Northwest late in the day. High of 14C. Chance of rain around 70%. Not much moving in the morning, but the afternoon could hold a decent flight if the wind swings around and the clouds diminish some. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Justin Bosler (justin.bosler@gmail.com) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/