Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 02, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1036 1084 2981 Osprey 1 1 22 Bald Eagle 15 19 146 Northern Harrier 17 22 545 Sharp-shinned Hawk 67 233 5604 Cooper's Hawk 3 5 95 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 1 Broad-winged Hawk 35 46 4304 Red-tailed Hawk 5 12 384 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 33 39 1411 Merlin 0 0 57 Peregrine Falcon 2 2 43 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 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 1214 1463 15595 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Alessandra Kite, Hugh Kent, Mike Jaber Visitors: Alessandra, Mike and Hugh joined me in the morning and assisted with the Blue Jay counting. In the afternoon Steve and Marion from the UK visited and helped me spot, they've been a big help during their visits here. We were also joined by Missy and Adrian from Toronto for most of the day. Weather: The wind started off from the North today, but shifted West by 11:00 and eventually Southwest for most of the afternoon. The winds were light today, between 5-12kph. Cloud cover started around 30% and changed to a clear blue sky in the afternoon. Temperatures rose from 12.5 C to 22 C, and the pressure remained near 29.89 Raptor Observations: Despite several hours of North wind, it was a very quiet morning with less than 20 birds recorded per hour on average. In the afternoon we saw small numbers of Red-tailed Hawk, Northern Harrier, Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel go past. The bulk of our numbers today come from Turkey Vulture (1,036) and specifically from the last hour of the count when over 650 were recorded. The flight got very high and hard to see in the afternoon, most of it only visible with binoculars. Our highlights today were 2 Peregrine Falcons and the good vulture numbers Non-raptor Observations: Today was quieter than expected on the passerine front, with only 3 warbler species recorded and no thrushes besides American Robin. Birdcast showed a strong migration last night, but it seems like a lot of birds used the favourable weather to leave, and not many new ones dropped in. We had a decent flight of Blue Jays (46,500), but they quieted down drastically after the first 3 hours of the count. Other highlights included; 45 Redhead, 230 Common Tern, 84 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 7 Purple Finch, 1 Black-crowned Night Heron and 3 Indigo Buntings. 6 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are lingering by the base of the tower. 81 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list click this eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S197286986 Predictions: Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be from the southwest, the temperature above 20 degrees and the sky totally clear. I don't expect a huge movement, but birds that don't mind the south winds as much should still be flying, such as sharpies and falcons. Because of the temperature and clear sky, the birds will likely be very high up again. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (kiahbirder@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