Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 27, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 1 1 Turkey Vulture 660 24509 24517 Osprey 0 9 62 Bald Eagle 12 222 274 Northern Harrier 16 259 590 Sharp-shinned Hawk 61 1911 3907 Cooper's Hawk 8 138 183 American Goshawk 2 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 132 136 Broad-winged Hawk 0 9 1302 Red-tailed Hawk 89 781 837 Rough-legged Hawk 1 10 10 Golden Eagle 15 77 78 American Kestrel 1 230 1394 Merlin 0 33 81 Peregrine Falcon 0 42 61 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 868 28366 33436 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours Official Counter: Tom Bolohan Observers: Dave Brown, Ken Wootton Visitors: Several visitors today including another group of folks from the OFO outing. Thanks to Tom B, Mac M, Ken W and Steve V for helping with today's count. Weather: A beautiful fall day today which made it very enjoyable for hanging out at the hawk watch. Unfortunately, the winds backed around to the W and then WSW to SW which really hindered today's raptor flight. Temps started at a chilly 0C and got to a high of 12C (though it felt warmer as the wind was blocked by the bush lot behind us). The pressure slowly dropped throughout the day. Clouds were at multiple levels with a high deck of clouds and then a lower level set of clouds and even a few cumulus clouds that popped up in the afternoon as a few thermals formed. Raptor Observations: A much smaller flight today but we did get some good quality birds. The total birds for today was 868 with the bulk being TVs (660). We did get another 15 Golden Eagles which kept the visitors happy... but a nice highlight was a fantastic young American Goshawk that came right over the bush in front of us and passed low and just to our north with great light on it for good views and photos. Another light morph Rough-legged Hawk also was a visitor favourite especially for those that had never seen one before. Non-raptor Observations: Lots and lots of passerines on the move again today despite the less favourable winds. A very similar mix to yesterday with Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, Purple Finches, Am Pipits and Horned Larks, another small flock of Tundra Swans and several Hermit Thrushes and Yellow-rumped Warblers. For a complete list of non-raptors have a look at the following eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S200649545 Predictions: The next few days (Mon thru Thu) are forecast to have fairly strong SE and then SW winds and even rain on Thursday. This will effectively push most of the raptor migration inland away from the Lake Erie shoreline and result in very few birds passing by the Hawk Cliff hawk watch. Those birds that do move during this time MAY be found going right along the cliff edge using the updraft created by these SW winds hitting the cliff face and pushing up and providing lift. The next promising day is Friday as winds shift back around to the NW and temps drop with the passage of a cold front. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown (ez.raptor1210@gmail.com) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392