Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 13 301 301 Osprey 0 12 12 Bald Eagle 0 112 112 Northern Harrier 2 169 169 Sharp-shinned Hawk 27 767 767 Cooper's Hawk 3 43 43 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 1650 1650 Red-tailed Hawk 0 121 121 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 5 356 357 Merlin 5 34 36 Peregrine Falcon 3 11 11 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Raptor 0 6 6 Total: 58 3583 3586 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Michael Burton-Smith Observers: Hugh Kent, Kitty Bradshaw, Patrick Tomlinson, Robin Smallwood Visitors: A huge thanks to Kitty, Patrick, Robin and Hugh who assisted me on the tower today, and to all our other visitors who came along. Weather: Moderate southerly winds with cloud cover increasing through the day. Temperatures rising to the high twenties. Raptor Observations: As predicted it was a very slow day today, with just 63 raptors reported. With southerly winds it is the falcons who tend to shine, and today it was three Peregrines that really stole the show. One adult Peregrine pursuing a Merlin in the air was particularly incredible. Non-raptor Observations: The day's checklist can be viewed at https://ebird.org/checklist/S393235256. The winds overnight did produce the warbler fall we had hoped for, with our first Blackburnian and Black-throated Blue Warblers of the season. We also had Common Yellowthroat and Black-and-White, Nashville, Magnolia, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Blackpoll and Yellow-rumped Warbler. Other migrating passerines caught in the fall included Red-breasted Nuthatch, Traill's and Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Eastern Phoebe, Eastern Kingbird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Hermit and Swainson's Thrush, and Purple Finch. The most incredible sighting of the day was a Common Snapping Turtle which caught a Great Blue Heron and was attempting to exhaust it for over forty-five minutes before we left. Predictions: Tomorrow has the potential to be another good hawk day with strong northerly winds, and we will hopefully see a sizeable movement of Broad-winged Hawks in the late morning. Overnight conditions could be conducive to bringing in a few new warblers as well, but rain in the early hours and tomorrow afternoon may dampen the effect of the northerly wind. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () 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