Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 10, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 5 7 7 Osprey 0 1 1 Bald Eagle 2 3 3 Northern Harrier 16 37 37 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 19 19 Cooper's Hawk 1 7 7 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 105 108 108 Red-tailed Hawk 3 19 19 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 135 263 263 Merlin 7 18 18 Peregrine Falcon 2 7 7 Unknown Accipiter 1 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Total: 288 491 491 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Elizabeth Kent, Hugh Kent, Noel Herdman Visitors: We appreciate all the interest in the tower and the hawk watch but remind everyone that the tower remains closed 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 very foggy morning on the tower, with the marsh itself barely visible. The fog cleared after a few hours but we were left with a very gray sky which made seeing raptors difficult when they didn't disappear into the low wispy clouds. Luckily, the winds blew steadily from the North all day, making the smaller birds bounce in the air and rocking the bigger raptors. Raptor Observations: A very good day on the tower with 288 raptors! Finally feeling like migration out here. Our most numerous bird today was once again the American Kestrel (135), but are seeing more movement from other species including Northern Harriers (16) and Sharp-shinned Hawks (11). A good group of Broad-winged Hawks made their first real attempt at migrating today and we counted 105 individuals. No big kettles, only small groups of 5-8 hawks at a time but there was a steady flow of birds all day. Additionally, we counted a few Merlins, Peregrine Falcons, and Red-tailed Hawks. Today's success is leaving us feeling refreshed and optimistic about the season and we can't wait to continue counting raptors. Non-raptor Observations: Another great day for warblers around the tower as we identified 16 species. Northern Parulas, Cape May, Pine and Tennessee Warblers made appearances with plenty more in tow. We also spotted a female Baltimore Oriole and a female Scarlet Tanager in the morning. Purple Martins are still very busy feeding in the air space above the tower and doing a great job at pretending to be American Kestrels, just to keep us on our toes. Lastly, in the last hour, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds came in droves, approximately 20 individuals coming quickly one after the other. It was as though someone had opened a gate and let them all out at once. One Hummingbird even actively chased a swallow out onto the marsh! Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73438222 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting a great day with winds from the North-East. Temperatures should stay quite pleasant and we should see a mix of sun and cloud. For birds, we are hoping everything keeps going the way it has this week! With more sun in the forecast, there should be more opportunities for thermals to form so we are expecting a few more Broad-winged Hawks and Sharp-shinned Hawks. ======================================================================== 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