Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 30, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 41 5195 54431 Osprey 0 0 36 Bald Eagle 0 39 232 Northern Harrier 0 332 789 Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 418 5386 Cooper's Hawk 6 89 326 Northern Goshawk 0 0 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 616 831 Broad-winged Hawk 0 6 25779 Red-tailed Hawk 61 4510 5328 Rough-legged Hawk 0 21 21 Golden Eagle 0 25 28 American Kestrel 2 25 1735 Merlin 0 13 120 Peregrine Falcon 0 10 61 Unknown Accipiter 0 3 8 Unknown Buteo 0 13 25 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 3 7 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 118 11318 95150 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Donny Moore, Kory Renaud Visitors: Big thank you to Donny Moore for his help and company spotting today! Thank you to John Barnes for visiting in the morning and again in the afternoon (thanks for the coffee!). Thank you to Kory Renaud, and Mark Nenadov and Ashley for their afternoon visit. Lastly, thank you to Bob Hall-Brooks for bringing a big and gorgeous adult Cooper's Hawk to be released from the tower! Weather: Great winds today coming, not too strong, out the North-East, then swinging towards the East by the end of the afternoon. Temperatures lingered around 3 degrees Celsius with a thick cloud cover. Raptor Observations: What a great last day! Daily total was 118 raptors with the number one migrant is once again the Red-tailed Hawk (61). Coming in close second were 41 Turkey Vultures, followed by 7 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 6 Cooper's Hawks. One adult Red-shouldered Hawk flew right above the tower to show-off it's beautiful tail and lastly, two American Kestrels zoomed by. What made one of the kestrels so special is that it was the last bird of the season! I wish all the raptors good luck on the rest of their migration! Non-raptor Observations: I had the chance to bring out the clicker for one last spin as 452 American Crows flew above the tower today. Mute Swans, Mallards and Canada Geese are still the main residents of the marsh, but swimming amongst them are Buffleheads, Black Ducks, Mergansers, Ring-necked Ducks, Ruddy Ducks, and American Coots. A few Great Blue Herons and two Double-crested Cormorants are lingering, while the Ring-billed Gulls are still very abundant. Passerines are still spotted from the tower including; Chickadees, Red-bellied and Downy Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Nuthatches, Brown Creepers, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, a Carolina Wren, and Song and Swamp Sparrows. Flying over you could spot blackbirds, Bluebirds, Horned Larks, Robins, and Goldfinches. Check out the full eBird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61879531 Predictions: Well that's all folks, the 2019 Hawk Watch is over! I would like to extend my thanks to every single person that took the time, and made the effort to climb the stairs, to come to the hawk tower this season! A round of applause to the hawks and to the incredible phenomenon that is migration and finally, long live the hawk watch!! ======================================================================== 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