Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 25, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 2 44 47 Bald Eagle 1 90 92 Northern Harrier 2 171 176 Sharp-shinned Hawk 16 412 413 Cooper's Hawk 0 17 17 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 3 21588 21588 Red-tailed Hawk 0 4 4 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 6 487 514 Merlin 2 26 26 Peregrine Falcon 12 19 19 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 44 22858 22896 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours Official Counter: Chris Burris Observers: Visitors: None reported. Weather: The temp held steady at 18C until the showers arrived – it dropped to 15C and eventually rebounded to 17C. The stiff SW wind (about 25 km/h, gusting to 40 km/h) also remained stable until the mid-period showers, at which point it shifted to nearly pure W from 15 to 25 km/h. Cloud coverage varied from 20% to 100% and back to 69%. Raptor Observations: A sweet dozen Peregrines (a mix of adults and subadults) were the raptor highlight, with all but one appearing while the wind was SW. There was a sprinkling of other species (Merlin, Osprey, American Kestrel, Northern Harrier, Broad winged Hawk), mostly after the wind went W. If this had been a birding video game, surely some combo points would have been scored when a Kestrel, a Red-tailed, a Vulture, and a Peregrine were all visible in the same bin view! Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptors included: Double-crested Cormorant, Canada Goose, Ring-billed Gull, Herring Gull, American Crow, Blue Jay, American Goldfinch, European Starling, Mourning Dove, Song Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Rock Pigeon, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Northern Flicker, Belted Kingfisher, Eastern Towhee, Blackpoll Warbler. Finally, to the delight and amazement of the official counter, a Connecticut Warbler (tubby, yellowish below, solid olive drab above, solid white eyering) flushed from a weed patch near the lake and perched in the open briefly before disappearing again. Predictions: Winds are forecast to be from the W and fairly moderate to strong with gusts. This will likely slow any large flight for Sunday. However, the forecast is for moderate to strong SW winds on Monday which should bring more Peregrines along the cliff itself. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebrowns@ezlink.ca) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392