Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 100 157 157 Osprey 5 12 12 Bald Eagle 4 10 10 Northern Harrier 13 29 29 Sharp-shinned Hawk 282 380 380 Cooper's Hawk 8 20 20 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 153 251 251 Red-tailed Hawk 14 24 24 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 46 131 131 Merlin 7 29 29 Peregrine Falcon 1 6 6 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 Total: 633 1049 1049 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Chip Ogglesby, Chuck Sharbaugh, Kit McCann, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin Visitors: Many thanks to Chip, Chuck, John, Kit, Neil, Noel and Paul for their assistance in observing on what was a busy day. It was good to meet Andrew, Rob and Carole and many other visitors who showed great interest in the Hawk Watch and the birds on the marsh. Weather: Much like yesterday, overcast but clearing a little in the last hour. Wind moderate, consistently from the north, good visibility with temperature about 20c for most of the day, rising to mid 20s in late afternoon. Raptor Observations: Very much a Sharp-shinned Hawk (282) and Broad-winged Hawk (153) day today, followed by Turkey Vultures (100). There were a few small kettles mainly with Turkey Vultures forming the base and the Broadwings and Sharpies joining in. It seemed too overcast for large kettles to form. It seems a bit early for the Turkey Vultures to be forming kettles and migrating. We had 10 species today with American Kestrels reaching 46 and the remainder no higher than about 10 each. At the end of the day we had a nice procession of 4 immature Northern Harriers. Non-raptor Observations: Interesting day, with Cedar Waxwings (430) again putting on a good show. The Variety of ducks seems to be increasing with both Northern Pintail (14) and Northern Shoveler (10) seen. More Chimney Swifts (16) and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds (16) were seen today. Of interest was the significant amount of Dragonflies in the air in the afternoon which attracted 5 Merlins in the last hour and many Gulls. Monarch Butterflies (41) reached the highest number so far this season. Yellow-rumped Warbler and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were new species for the season. The list can be found at https://ebird.org/checklist/S149576255 Predictions: Mixed messages from the forecasters tomorrow. Some indicate that the wind will remain from the north for a time, others state it will be from the south west. Temperatures are due to rise slightly and it will be partly cloudy, but with less cloud cover than today. Hopefully we will have at least a similar day as today. ======================================================================== 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