Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch (26 Sep 2024) 1096 Raptors
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2024
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 3 3 3
Osprey 9 33 34
Bald Eagle 14 27 27
Northern Harrier 42 161 161
Sharp-shinned Hawk 277 1723 1723
Cooper's Hawk 10 22 22
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 3 3
Broad-winged Hawk 337 1224 1254
Red-tailed Hawk 9 43 43
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 384 1006 1007
Merlin 5 38 38
Peregrine Falcon 4 13 14
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: 1096 4296 4329
Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 18:00:00
Total observation time: 11 hours
Official Counter: Dave Brown
Observers: Chris Burris, Ken Wootton, Laure Neish, Matt Oswald,
Michelle Carnerie, Su Ross-Redmond
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today to the site and I have to thank many of them that
helped spot birds along with observers Ken, Su, Chris, Kitty, Gale, Laure,
Michelle, Matt, Trish and Gayle.
Weather:
Nice day of all encompassing high cloud with temps ranging from 12C to 23C.
Pressure was rising and once the air dried a bit the birds were flying.
Winds were light but steady from the NE and ENE for most of the count
period before dropping to near calm in the last couple of hours.
Raptor Observations:
Well what a difference the wind direction can make. Our first northerly
winds in weeks brought a diversity of 12 different species as we recorded
1,096 raptors for today. The amazing part of todayâs flight was the Am
Kestrels (384) where 111 of them came through in the single hour from 5-6
pm EDT⦠at times we had 10+ coming at us in waves. In fact we had 201
AMKE in the last 3 hours after most of our observers / counters and
visitors had left! Other highlights included Peregrines (4) with a couple
providing photo ops, a couple of Red-shouldered Hawks, several Osprey (9)
flying right along the Cliff and a really consistent flight of N Harriers
(42) throughout the count period.
There was also a consistent flight of Sharpies (277) with a small number of
Cooperâs Hawks thrown in. For those who like a little excitement, early
in the day we had a young Cooperâs Hawk come in outta nowhere and snatch
a passing Blue Jay right in front of the viewing platform which it promptly
flew off with!
Small groups of Broad-winged Hawks passed through today but as weâve seen
the bulk of this species passed through and primarily over west along Lake
Huron so weâve missed them again this fall.
Non-raptor Observations:
There seemed to be small birds everywhere this morning right from sunup
till about 10am when it quieted down. At one point we had at least 7
different warbler species in the one locust tree right beside the viewing
stand. A lone Common Nighthawk was also a nice surprise in the afternoon.
For more details please see the eBird checklists from today at the Hawk
Cliff hotspot:
https://ebird.org/hotspot/L9
Big push of Blue Jays in the morning with a steady stream crossing westward
for the first 3 hours. Iâd estimate at least 10,000+ went by the site
today before tapering off.
And finally for those wondering about Monarchs⦠apparently yesterday
(Weâd) there was a steady movement of Monarchs westward along the shore
line⦠while today I noted only about 25.
Predictions:
Friday looks interesting with much stronger NE winds earlier in the day
then backing through ENE to E in the afternoon. Given the decent flight
today Iâm expecting possibly higher numbers tomorrow as the heavier winds
push more birds down to the Lake Erie shoreline. Hopefully weâll have
some cloud around to aid in spotting the birds as they tend to get to
higher altitudes on NE winds.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown (ez.raptor1210@gmail.com)
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