Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 917 917 5794 Osprey 0 0 17 Bald Eagle 1 1 83 Northern Harrier 17 17 220 Sharp-shinned Hawk 177 177 3525 Cooper's Hawk 5 5 87 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 2 5 Broad-winged Hawk 5 5 5246 Red-tailed Hawk 10 10 145 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 11 11 636 Merlin 0 0 90 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 52 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 Total: 1146 1146 15900 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Klekner, Olga, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman Visitors: We thank all today's observers for their efforts and those interested in the ongoing Hawk Count. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, access to the top level of Hawk Tower is limited to hawk counters and qualified observers only. The 2nd and lower levels are open to the public practising COVID-19 safe precautions (social distancing). Thank you for your understanding and involvement. Weather: A bright and clear sunny day with early mist that soon burned off. Wind from the south was very light initially increasing to moderate by mid afternoon. Temperature started at 14c rose to 24c by mid afternoon. Raptor Observations: Turkey Vulture (917) migration continues with small to medium kettles forming by late morning. Slightly lower numbers of Sharp-shinned hawks today (177) and Northern Harriers (17), which appeared throughout the day until mid afternoon. Very low numbers of the remaining species seen. It was great to see an adult Red-shouldered Hawk quite close to the tower today. Non-raptor Observations: The Blue Jay migration continues with significant numbers seen (32,270). Blackbirds are increasing as well as Starlings. Good variety of songbirds seen today including eight warbler species. Waterbird numbers have stabilised at relatively low levels, a good variety of duck were again on the marsh with the first of the seasons Redheads flying into the marsh. A welcome sight very early on was a Virginia Rail in the open in the small marsh to the east of the Tower. The list can be seen at https://ebird.org/checklist/S95448217 Predictions: Tomorrow will be similar to today with a bit more cloud and the wind remains from the south light to moderate. So it is likely we will continue seeing Turkey Vultures and Sharp-shinned Hawks. Hopefully we may see more falcons, but suspect not too many buteos. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Hugh Kent (Hughnkent@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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/hbmo/hbmo-hawk-watch-fall-2021