Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 107 1002 1024 Osprey 0 20 20 Bald Eagle 0 120 123 Northern Harrier 43 403 422 Sharp-shinned Hawk 232 4205 4207 Cooper's Hawk 2 81 82 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 31 3764 3776 Red-tailed Hawk 2 326 366 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 58 1296 1304 Merlin 4 55 55 Peregrine Falcon 3 39 39 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: 482 11312 11419 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin, Peter Veighey Visitors: Big thanks to Steve, Paul, Peter, Noel, Marion, Mike and Liz for helping out observing. It was good to see Judy again. It was also good to meet Randy from Ohio, Alban from Windsor and Ching-Li Shih from Windsor who all showed a great interest in the Hawk Watch. Weather: We were met with drizzle and much reduced visibility. This carried on with a patch of rain late morning and finally cleared around midday. The temperature hovered around the 20c mark and the moderate wind remained from the north all day under an overcast sky. Raptor Observations: As expected, it was a slow morning with the drizzle and rain, but when it cleared things perked up and we had a good run of Sharp-shinned Hawks (232), Turkey Vultures (107) and American Kestrels (58). It was another good day for Northern Harriers (43). The flight line was over the Tower and to the north across the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: A good diversity of species today around the Tower including Warblers, Vireos, Thrushes, Sparrows, Blackbirds and Woodpeckers. Good flight of Northern Flickers with 19 seen. First for the year Blue-headed Vireo and Winter Wren. Nice views of a pair of Brown Thrashers in the bushes east of the Tower. Blue Jays were very scarce in the morning but made up for it in the afternoon with 26,800 seen. There was also a large flock of Tree Swallows (1190) hawking for low insects on the marsh in the morning. Fewer ducks visible on the marsh but the three juvenile Black-crowned Night-herons appeared again. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S196970156 Predictions: The forecast shows overcast with about a 15% chance of rain in the morning with a northern aspect to a moderate wind. The wind is predicted to move to the east in the afternoon, with a slight clearance. It is likely that we will have a similar mix and numbers to today if the rain stays away. ======================================================================== 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