Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 48 48 1945 Osprey 0 0 21 Bald Eagle 4 4 131 Northern Harrier 5 5 528 Sharp-shinned Hawk 166 166 5537 Cooper's Hawk 2 2 92 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 1 Broad-winged Hawk 11 11 4269 Red-tailed Hawk 7 7 379 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 6 6 1378 Merlin 0 0 57 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 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 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 249 249 14381 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kiah Jasper Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman Visitors: Thanks to Hugh, Liz, Mike and Noel for helping me with the count today. We were visited by Noreen from Chatham and Chuck from near Amherstburg. Weather: Today we experienced very light winds from the Southwest, that then shifted around to East and Northeast (only locally, winds aloft were West), and even died completly several times. The temperature started at 18 Degrees C and went to a high of 26. It was cloudy for the majority of the day, with the sun coming out strong after 2pm. The pressure remained around 29.74. An hour after leaving the site the winds increased significantly and rain began, associated with a frontal boundary moving east. Raptor Observations: Much quieter than the previous day, with only 249 raptors recorded. The most common species today were Sharp-shinned Hawk (166) and Turkey Vulture (48), with single digits of Red-tailed Hawk, American Kestrel, Bald Eagle and Northern Harrier mixed in. We had several small groups of Broad-wings, with 11 counted in total today. Non-raptor Observations: Despite being one of those slow, southerly wind days, we still recorded 92 species on the tower. Blue Jays had another very strong flight this morning, with 75,850 being the final count. Other highlights included; our first Pine Warbler of the season, late migrants Purple Martin and Least Flycatcher, American Pipit, Rusty Blackbird and Indigo Bunting. An American White Pelican also landed briefly in the marsh. Full eBird list available here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S197177186 In September, 2024 we recorded 160 species from the tower (our best September total to date!). To view the full eBird trip report click this link - https://ebird.org/tripreport/276315 Predictions: The wind tomorrow is meant to be from the North in the morning, switching West in the afternoon. It's predicted to be a cooler, sunny day as well. It could be quite productive for raptors, especially if the North wind sticks around into the afternoon. ======================================================================== 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