Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 873 1875 1897 Osprey 1 21 21 Bald Eagle 4 124 127 Northern Harrier 101 504 523 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1164 5369 5371 Cooper's Hawk 8 89 90 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 482 4246 4258 Red-tailed Hawk 6 332 372 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 68 1364 1372 Merlin 2 57 57 Peregrine Falcon 2 41 41 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 Swainson's Hawk 1 1 1 Total: 2713 14025 14132 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Hugh Kent, Kory Renaud, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Peter Veighey Visitors: Thanks to Peter, Mike and Noel for helping me count Blue Jays in the morning, it was much appreciated! Hugh and Kory also joined for several hours today and assisted with the count. Weather: The wind deviated from the predicted shift to East today, giving us our ideal Northeast winds for the entire day (5-15kph). The sky remained overcast, with a minimum of 90% cloud cover in the afternoon. The temperature fluctuated slightly between 18C and 23C. The barometer held around 29.83. Raptor Observations: What a day! By far our best raptor day of the season, with 2,713 birds of 13 species observed. When I arrived at 7:30 I was immediately clicking Sharp-shinned Hawks, a steady stream of them passing right over the tower. In the next 20 minutes I counted over 100, with the rest of the morning averaging over 200 sharpies per/hour. The final tally was 1,164, quite a good count for our site. There was no question about the highlight bird today though... at 1:30pm I was looking east when a gorgeous immature Swainson's Hawk glided through my binocular view! This is a bird we don't record every year, and always an exciting species to see in the province (see the eBird list for photos). Today was also productive for Northern Harriers, with 101 recorded (highlighted by a kettle of 6 together). We also recorded our first Red-shouldered Hawk of the season this afternoon. Non-raptor Observations: It was a productive day for non raptors as well, with many passerines observed migrating over the tower. American Goldfinches (1,255) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (126) were out in good numbers today, with smaller groups of Purple Finches, Cedar Waxwings and American Pipits mixed in with them. Blue Jays were recorded in strong numbers again today, with 88,350 seen flying west past the tower. Other highlights included; 2 Brown Thrashers, 2 Gray-cheeked Thrush, 24 Rusty Blackbird, 2 Blackpoll Warblers, 4 Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers and a Common Merganser. 91 species and 99,001 individual birds were seen from the tower today. For the full list see this eBird checklist https://ebird.org/checklist/S197081155 Predictions: Tomorrow the wind is predicted to be from the southwest, and there is a chance of rain in the area. We don't expect a large flight, but you never know what could happen this time of year. ======================================================================== 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