Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 561 11448 13552 Osprey 0 2 7 Bald Eagle 0 7 40 Northern Harrier 9 155 365 Sharp-shinned Hawk 173 2695 6644 Cooper's Hawk 5 66 138 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 16 17 Broad-winged Hawk 0 154 45327 Red-tailed Hawk 3 91 275 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 10 667 1879 Merlin 8 39 142 Peregrine Falcon 3 30 86 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 772 15371 68476 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Noel Herdman Visitors: We appreciate all the interest in the tower and the hawk watch but remind everyone that the tower remains closed to members of the public and has a three-person limit reserved for the Hawk Counters. Thank you to all who are respecting these precautions. Be safe everyone! Weather: A pink and slightly hazy sky greeted us this morning. Though there were no clouds in the sky, the visibility was quite low throughout the day, even as the sun rose higher in the sky. A fresh breeze from the South-West kept us from overheating as the temperature rose to 25 degrees Celsius, quite warm from October! Finally, clouds rolled in during the last 2 hours cooling off the air for the day. Raptor Observations: Not our busiest day with 772 raptors, but thankfully Turkey Vultures brought up our daily total with 561 individuals. Sharp-shinned Hawks were our next most numerous migrants with 173 individuals. Other species came in small numbers, but we were excited to count 8 Merlins today! The fast and aggressive falcons zipped across the marsh with 5 individuals coming in the same crazy hour. Any and all activity died down in the afternoon, and we feared checking the "no raptor" box of shame for the last hour when 2 lovely Sharp-shinned Hawks popped up above the trees with minutes to spare before heading home. Non-raptor Observations: Raptors were not the only ones taking a break from flying today. Not much to report from the non-raptors apart from 24,750 Blue Jays, keeping us awake during the raptor lulls. European Starlings were also very busy, forming massive murmurations stretching across the marsh. Various species of finches flew across the tower including House and Purple Finch, Pine Siskins, and American Goldfinches. Tree and Northern Rough-winged Swallows were busy hawking over the marsh for bugs and a flock of 12 Chimney Swifts flew above in the morning. We are seeing more American Robins around the tower, their lovely songs reminding us of spring time, which seems like an eternity ago! Finally, Gadwalls and American Coots, which have taken the marsh hostage, are very numerous on the water. Full ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74664236 Predictions: Winds are shifting to the North-East for the night and should stay put for a few hours in the morning! Hopefully they will bring more raptors like Red-tailed Hawks and Red-shouldered Hawks before shifting and blowing from the East. Additionally, warm temperatures will create thermals and make for a pleasant day on the tower to hopefully count kettles of Turkey Vultures. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Maryse Gagné (maryse.gagne35@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