Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 351 895 917 Osprey 0 20 20 Bald Eagle 3 120 123 Northern Harrier 52 355 374 Sharp-shinned Hawk 373 3962 3964 Cooper's Hawk 6 79 80 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 360 3733 3745 Red-tailed Hawk 44 324 364 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 247 1237 1245 Merlin 3 50 50 Peregrine Falcon 3 36 36 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: 1442 10812 10919 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Alessandra Kite, Juliette Herdman, Kiah Jasper, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Peter Veighey Visitors: Big thank you to Alessandra, Juliette, Kiah, Liz, Mike, Noel and Peter for helping observe today. Liz, Mike, Noel and Peter must have aching clicker fingers after the record Blue Jay Count! It was great to meet the OFO Group led by Kiah and Alessandra who spent a few hours on the Tower also helping with observing. Also good to meet Donna and Steve, and Randy who took a keen interest. Weather: Strong gusty wind from the north east for most of the day and an overcast sky. The pressure gradually dropped throughout the day with the temperature averaging about 20c. Reasonable visibility, although slightly hazy at distance. Raptor Observations: Largest total of the Season so far with 1,442 raptors seen today, with Turkey Vultures (348), Sharp-shinned Hawks (373), Broad-winged Hawks (360) and American Kestrels (247) all reaching the hundreds. Strong number again of Northern Harriers (52). The Broad-winged Hawks were flying by in small groups and singles, sometimes quite low, making it feel like the end of their migration period. We have not had big numbers this year with many seeming to cross north of Lake St Clair and heading south through Michigan. Non-raptor Observations: The strong wind suppressed the songbirds which were mainly seen flying over the Tower. The Blue Jays made up for this with a record daily count in recent years of 100,950 (previous record 99,715 - 11 Oct 20) - they just kept coming in streams over the Tower and Marsh. Good numbers of dabbling ducks were again present on the Marsh. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S196676606 Predictions: The wind is forecast be East North East not as strong as today, still overcast. However there is over a 60% likelihood of rain from mid morning to early afternoon. Hopefully we will get a similar movement to today before the rain sets in. ======================================================================== 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