Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 06, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 8 130 152 Osprey 0 7 7 Bald Eagle 6 44 47 Northern Harrier 1 69 88 Sharp-shinned Hawk 30 72 74 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 5 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 13 269 281 Red-tailed Hawk 1 203 243 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 7 213 221 Merlin 0 8 8 Peregrine Falcon 2 6 6 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: 68 1026 1133 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Peter Veighey Visitors: Very quiet for visitors on the tower today, I didn't see anyone until after 11am. Thanks to Hugh, Liz and Peter, who came by in the afternoon and watched with me for several hours. Weather: An interesting day on the tower for weather. On my drive into the park in the morning it was raining lightly, but that stopped almost immediately when I reached the tower. It was hot (19C) and humid for 8am, with hardly any wind and high humidity. The wind increased during the course of the morning, coming from the west. After 12pm the wind shifted to the NW and steadily increased in speed during the afternoon, with gusts of nearly 30kph. The temperature also decreased near the end of the observation, dropping to 21 degrees after reaching a high of 26 in the mid afternoon. Raptor Observations: More active than the previous few days, with 68 individual raptors of 8 species recorded. Activity picked up after 1pm, when the wind shifted to the NW. Highlights were the Sharp-shinned Hawk flight (30) and watching an immature Peregrine Falcon harass the local ducks/gulls/cormorants/osprey/ Non-raptor Observations: Much more entertaining on the non raptor front today as well, with a solid movement of Purple Martins (1927), American Goldfinch (432) and Cedar Waxwing (102). 4 American Golden-Plovers and 1 Black-bellied Plover were seen flying over the marsh, as well as our first two Northern Pintail of the season. 9 warbler species were seen near the base of the tower, mainly American Redstart, Magnolia and Blackpoll. A total of 83 species from the tower today, much high than yesterday's 67. To see the full list check out this eBird checklist -https://ebird.org/checklist/S194189622 Predictions: Tomorrow the wind will be out of the Northwest, and the sky should be clear. After a slow few days, there could be a decent early season movement tomorrow! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (kiahbirder@gmail.com) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100