Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1957 44866 46970 Osprey 0 4 9 Bald Eagle 1 16 49 Northern Harrier 33 335 545 Sharp-shinned Hawk 96 3838 7787 Cooper's Hawk 5 173 245 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 39 256 257 Broad-winged Hawk 0 195 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 333 1308 1492 Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 3 Golden Eagle 2 4 4 American Kestrel 0 715 1927 Merlin 0 50 153 Peregrine Falcon 0 49 105 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 2468 51814 104919 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Ian Woodfield, Kory Renaud, 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: Another cool day with steady winds from the North-East blowing all day long, and temperatures staying around 5 degrees Celsius. The sun was supposed to shine today, but was never seen, as it was hiding under the extensive cloud cover. These clouds prevented the air from warming to create great thermals. Luckily, this did not prevent hawks from flying! Raptor Observations: The best things came in twos today! Throughout the day we counted two light-morph Rough-legged Hawks as well as two Golden Eagles! A wonderful day for buteos today as 333 Red-tailed Hawks and 39 Red-shouldered Hawks were counted from the tower. Most flew quite high, and later in the afternoon. Northern Harriers were quite abundant in the morning with 33 individuals coming over, 6 of which were Grey Ghosts. Of course, we cannot forget Turkey Vultures, which flew in high numbers, and very low over the tower during the last hour of the count. By the end of the day, we had counted 1,975 Turkey Vultures. Overall, we thank the Northern winds for a very good day on the tower. Non-raptor Observations: Duck season is here! Rafts of ducks could be seen forming on the lake, and included Canvasbacks, Redheads, Ruddy Ducks, and Lesser Scaup. A few Buffleheads and Red-breasted Mergansers were also in the mix. Our newest addition to our list was the Common Goldeneye. Two new species to the marsh were 2 Trumpeter Swans, and a dozen Tundra Swans. American Crows put on quite the show with 11,480 individuals migrating today, with a high number flying during the last our of the count. Lastly, we counted a few flocks of Evening Grosbeaks, what a pleasure it is to see them! Predictions: Tomorrow's forecast is very similar to today's; a cooler day with Northern winds and a full cloud cover. Hopefully, the raptor action will also be similar, with groups of buteos and streams of Turkey Vultures. Let's hope for another great day on the tower! ======================================================================== 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