Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 253 416 416 Osprey 0 1 1 Bald Eagle 7 26 26 Northern Harrier 18 101 101 Sharp-shinned Hawk 347 1392 1392 Cooper's Hawk 8 32 32 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 16494 28811 28811 Red-tailed Hawk 43 124 124 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 194 828 828 Merlin 8 44 44 Peregrine Falcon 0 9 9 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 17372 31787 31787 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Dave Martin, Elizabeth Kent, Hugh Kent, Linda Wladarski, Michelle Mastellotto, Olga Klekner 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. Another thank you to our additional counters stationed at the base of the tower calling our birds from below. Be safe everyone! Weather: A slightly chilly start to the day as the winds blew quite strongly from the North, but it sure did warm quickly and we stayed at very pleasant temperatures all day. We started off with a full cloud cover that quickly dissipated in the late morning only to leave us with a bright blue sky for the rest of the count. Raptor Observations: What a day to be looking at the sky, hope your clickers were ready to go! Today we tallied 16,494 Broad-winged Hawks! We were so fortunate to see massive kettles forming above our heads and right off the shores of Lake Erie. Major movements started around 11 and by the time the afternoon hit, we were waist deep in buteos flying incredibly high in the bright blue sky. Only in the last hour did the hawks fly lower to find a lovely place to spend the night. Of course Broad-winged Hawks were not the only migrants today, we counted 253 Turkey Vultures flying along side the kettles. Sharp-shinned Hawks and American Kestrels zoomed along in the morning when the winds were stronger, and a few Northern Harriers and Merlins made quick appearances throughout the day. Truly a day where the adage "Keep looking up" was in full effect! Non-raptor Observations: In the hours before the insanity of thousands of raptors, we did manage to count other species including more warblers, American Goldfinches, Purple Finches, and Cedar Waxwings. Blue Jays also chose to move in big numbers in the morning, just to make sure our clickers were ready, and we counted 2,618 individuals. Still seeing the same mix of waterfowl on the marsh, but we did see a Short-billed Dowitcher flying past. Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73719226 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting another day of Northern winds with very little cloud cover once again. Why don't we try to beat today's numbers, okay Broad-wings? We'll be ready! We are hoping to keep seeing good number of different hawks flying by the tower and in good numbers as well. Tomorrow, keep looking up! ======================================================================== 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: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100