Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 07, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 32 451 58434 Osprey 0 1 44 Bald Eagle 0 13 489 Northern Harrier 0 34 805 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 47 7324 Cooper's Hawk 2 10 306 American Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 22 344 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 40251 Red-tailed Hawk 0 77 1728 Rough-legged Hawk 0 7 16 Golden Eagle 0 6 38 American Kestrel 0 0 1147 Merlin 0 3 113 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 72 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 21 Unknown Eagle 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 3 Black Vulture 0 0 1 Total: 36 676 111139 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 10:30:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Visitors: The only visitors today were Melanie and Loren from Detroit, who kept me company for part of the morning. I hope they are able to come back on a day with better weather and some goldens! Weather: The count started late today due to a large band of rain passing west to east during the morning. The main system was done around 10:00am, so the count resumed just after then. It was another gusty day for wind on the tower (gusts of well over 30kph), but the southerly component of the wind made it a bit warmer at least (10C). It was a dark and gloomy day, making the ducks at the far side of the wetland appear as colourless specks. Brief periods of mist and drizzle came and went until around 11:30. The wind remained strong out of the Southwest all day, picking up in the afternoon. The barometer was quite low today, dropping to 29.48. Raptor Observations: Well, all things considered I saw more raptors than expected today. After the rain passed there was a brief period of Westward movement on the far side of the marsh, 32 Turkey Vultures, 2 Cooper's Hawks and 1 Red-shouldered Hawk. These were likely birds that were roosting nearby last night and decided to try and move on once the rain ended. Somehow that was more than we saw on Tuesday and Wednesday combined. After the initial flurry of activity the flight died completely, besides a solo Sharp-shinned Hawk around noon. Because of the increasing Southwest wind and dark sky, the count was ended early today. The lingering Osprey was also seen today, flying over the marsh to the East. Non-raptor Observations: It was quiet on all fronts today, though given the weather that was not too surprising. No passerine migration was noted, and Lake Erie was empty except for some Red-breasted Mergansers and Bonaparte's Gulls. On the Marsh 120 American White Pelicans were seen, as well as the lingering Common Gallinule. 28 Tree Swallows were seen hunting over the marsh, lingering well past their normal departure dates. An Eastern Towhee beside the tower was the only somewhat unusual bird. Only 55 species were recorded today, for the eBird list click here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S283358004 Predictions: Overnight tonight the wind will gradually shift from the West to the North, where it is meant to remain for all of tomorrow. Cold weather will be moving in this weekend starting tomorrow, and the daily high will likely only reach 6C. The light North wind and cool temperatures are a setup for a good raptor (and songbird) flight, so it should be a productive day tomorrow! Some weather models are predicting patches of sun throughout the day, while others hint at a low chance of rain. Sunny skies would definitely help our raptor numbers. So far Sunday looks like it will be a very wet and windy day on the tower, with Monday trending that way as well. So if you are looking to get out to Holiday Beach and have a decent chance of seeing some northern species such as Golden Eagle and Rough-legged Hawk, tomorrow would be a good bet : ) ======================================================================== 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