Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2018 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 410 5130 6811 Osprey 0 6 31 Bald Eagle 0 7 82 Northern Harrier 1 72 213 Sharp-shinned Hawk 155 815 2042 Cooper's Hawk 4 21 57 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 3 Broad-winged Hawk 5 184 7310 Red-tailed Hawk 1 15 89 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 9 265 703 Merlin 2 12 34 Peregrine Falcon 2 13 31 Unknown Accipiter 1 4 17 Unknown Buteo 0 3 18 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 2 5 Unknown Raptor 0 0 3 Total: 590 6550 17449 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Craig Evans Observers: Visitors: 7 visitors made it up the tower today but most only for short visits. Bob Vodarek was with me for about 2 hours. Thanks for everyone's help! Weather: The morning began with very light winds from the south and a temperature of 19.4 C that rose to a high of 30.2 C at 1:00 pm EST. Cloud cover increased throughout the day. The winds shifted to the southeast at 9:00 am EST. Humidity remained above 80% until the final two hours of the day. Light rain moved in for the final hour. Raptor Observations: A steady number of Sharp-shinned Hawks were coming over throughout the day again. Only one Northern Harrier was observed today. 5 Broad-winged Hawks and a Red-tailed hawk were observed today. Many Turkey Vultures were observed again using the thermals in the distance. 9 American Kestrels, 2 Merlin and 2 Peregrine Falcon were observed including one adult PG that caught and consumed a Blue Jay in a tree before proceeding west. Non-raptor Observations: There was more activity below the tower today compared to yesterday. A Blue-headed and Philadelphia Vireo were observed. A Brown Thrasher and 7 species of warbler were also observed. Red-winged Blackbirds were still coming over in good numbers in the morning. The morning began slow for Blue Jays but numbers picked up quickly and did not stop for much of the day. Blue Jays - 27 130 Monarchs - 8 https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S49103961 Predictions: There is a chance of a thunderstorm here tonight. The winds will shift to the west tonight and continue from the west tomorrow with mostly sunny skies and cooler temperatures that are not expected to rise past 15 C. Hopefully tomorrow we will have greater numbers of raptors still and more diversity as well. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Craig Evans (cpe4@hotmail.com) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ More site information at hawkcount.org: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100