Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 895 917 Osprey 0 20 20 Bald Eagle 0 120 123 Northern Harrier 5 360 379 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 3973 3975 Cooper's Hawk 0 79 80 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 3733 3745 Red-tailed Hawk 0 324 364 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 1 1238 1246 Merlin 1 51 51 Peregrine Falcon 0 36 36 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: 18 10830 10937 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 09:30:00 Total observation time: 2.5 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber Visitors: Thanks to Mike, Hugh, Liz, Dana, Quinten and William for stopping by to say hi and keep me company for the brief observation. We all got quite soaked! Weather: Today the low pressure associated from Hurricane Helene is starting to creep into the Great Lakes Region. Initially the forecast for the morning was mainly cloudy with one or two brief periods of light rain, but the lake effect rain had other ideas. After 08:20 light rain began, becoming heavier over the next hour. It let up slightly around 9:10, but only for 10 minutes. With the Northeast part of the low pressure reaching Lake Erie, it was causing continuous bands of rain to form over the lake to our east. We packed it in for the day at 10:30am, after being thoroughly doused in rain (even the base level of the tower couldn't save us). The temperature sat at 20 degrees C for the morning, and the pressure 29.74. Raptor Observations: Before the rain set in I observed several Northern Harriers and Sharp-shinned Hawks migrating by, all very low down along the treeline being pushed by wind. There was also a brief period of activity just after 09:00 when the rain let up, with several more Sharpies, a kestrel and a Merlin seen. Activity completly died once the heavier rain set in. Non-raptor Observations: It was quite active with foraging songbirds around the base of the tower in the morning, 8 species of warblers and 3 species of thrushes were recorded. Rusty Blackbirds and a Brown Thrasher were observed beside the tower, and the first Swamp Sparrow of the season called from the marsh. Other highlights included 2 American White Pelicans and 1 Short-billed Dowitcher that flew by with a group of Greater Yellowlegs. A total of 65 species were observed from the tower today, for the full eBird list see this link https://ebird.org/checklist/S196778428 Predictions: Tomorrow the wind is meant to be strong out of the Northeast, but there is also scattered rain in the forecast. If the rain holds off it could be similar to yesterday for numbers. ======================================================================== 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