Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2491 23249 30433 Osprey 0 2 13 Bald Eagle 0 32 284 Northern Harrier 14 155 473 Sharp-shinned Hawk 170 1673 5519 Cooper's Hawk 8 84 176 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 89 90 Broad-winged Hawk 0 42 65701 Red-tailed Hawk 8 498 674 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 73 488 1880 Merlin 6 30 89 Peregrine Falcon 3 30 82 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Total: 2773 26374 105416 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Bob Pettit, Chad Cornish, Donny Moore, Jim McCoy, Kory Renaud, Larry Ludwicki, Liz Kent, Mark Nenadov, Nicole Shangi, Paul Gosselin, Paul Pratt Visitors: Today was HBMO's Hawktober Fest. The nature delivered with many raptors to be seen from the tower and a number of hawks brought round from the Banding station for visitors to see more closely. Over 80 visitors came and showed a great interest in the nature on show, learning about the Hawk watch and raptors. Not to mention the available free coffee and doughnuts! A huge thanks to all the observers for pointing out the hawks as they passed by; Bob H-B, Bob P, Chad, Donny, Jim, Kory, Larry, Mark N, Nicole, Paul G and Paul P. Thanks to all the banders and all the helpers for making the day a great success! Weather: A bright but cloudy and windy day. Cold at times on the Tower. The wind was generally strong from the west, with the temperature hovering around 10c. The visibility was good. Raptor Observations: Another good day for Turkey Vultures (2491), the wind keeping them relatively low tracking both next to the shore and to the north of the marsh. Falcons revelled in the wind with a good number of American Kestrels (73) over together with Merlins (6) and Peregrines (3). Sharp-shinned Hawks (170), as ever kept their numbers up. Northern Harriers (14) were pretty regular with 3 Gray Ghost males passing by. The only slight disappointment were the low numbers of Buteos with only Red-tailed Hawks (8) appearing. But all in all a good day. Non-raptor Observations: A single Raven was spotted passing over the marsh, a new season record. American White Pelicans (26) and Sandhill Cranes (6) also graced us with their presence. Ducks are continuing to increase on the marsh with 8 species, the most numerous (other than Mallard) being Ring-necked Duck (270) and Gadwall (188). Shorebirds are still around with a good flock of Lesser Yellowlegs (30) descending onto the open mud in the marsh. The now drying marsh mud is also attracting American Pipit (32). Blue Jays (2,590) are still passing through, so are Tree Swallows (65). Another notable bird was a late Cape-may Warbler in the willow tree north of the tower. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S120738989 Predictions: Tomorrow looks like being a similar day to today but with lower winds and fewer clouds. Hopefully this will encourage more buteos to fly by! ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/hbmo/hbmo-hawk-watch-fall-2022