Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 09, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2 151 173 Osprey 0 7 7 Bald Eagle 0 49 52 Northern Harrier 1 77 96 Sharp-shinned Hawk 44 170 172 Cooper's Hawk 2 6 7 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 284 296 Red-tailed Hawk 1 212 252 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 7 252 260 Merlin 8 19 19 Peregrine Falcon 1 10 10 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: 66 1238 1345 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Liz Kent, Mike Jaber Visitors: Thanks to Mike for helping with observation in the Morning. He was rewarded with being able to release the Peregrine Falcon. Good to see Lou and Toni from Windsor and Dale and Lola from Kingsville again. It was great that a number of visitors to the Tower were able to see the female American Kestrel up close. Weather: The wind today was moderate mainly from the south west. Another bright day with the temperature increasing to a high of 27c in the afternoon. The cloud cover gradually increased with the pressure falling 7 points throughout the day. Visibility was good. Raptor Observations: Today was a Merlin day with 8 total which is a good daily count for this species. Always a joy to watch as they pass the Tower low and fast. Sharp-shinned Hawks (44) topped the table followed by Merlin (8) and American Kestrel (7). Thanks to hawk bander Chip for bringing a magnificent Peregrine Falcon and hawk bander Bob with a nice female American Kestrel and a Coopers Hawk to show and release on the Tower. It is always exciting for counters and visitors to see Hawks close up. Non-raptor Observations: Another relatively quiet day non-raptor wise. Sighting of the day was a Great Horned Owl seen flying from the trees east of the tower north over the marsh. A large movement along the shore of Ring-billed Gulls (202) and Tree Swallows (330) over the marsh was noted. The checklist is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S194580384. There was a good variety of butterflies around the Tower today including 1 fiery skipper, 1 bronze copper, 6 common buckeye, 4 monarchs, 3 viceroy, 2 orange Sulphur (1 white version), 2 clouded sulphurs, 8 cabbage white, 4 crescents, 2 eastern commas, 1 question mark, 2 red spotted purple, 1 eastern tailed blue, 3 least skippers,1 red admiral and a Mourning Cloak (thanks to Kit for the butterfly list). Predictions: Light winds generally from the south east with temperature rising to 23c in the afternoon will likely bring a similar mix of Raptors as today but probably not in greater numbers. ======================================================================== 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