Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 07, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2616 8624 10728 Osprey 0 2 7 Bald Eagle 1 5 38 Northern Harrier 12 122 332 Sharp-shinned Hawk 369 2079 6028 Cooper's Hawk 7 48 120 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 8 9 Broad-winged Hawk 7 153 45326 Red-tailed Hawk 16 62 246 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 177 581 1793 Merlin 7 27 130 Peregrine Falcon 10 25 81 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 3222 11736 64841 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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: Windy windy day on the tower, but it did not dampen our spirits. Winds gusting from the West all day, staying at around 20 km/h, but gusting to 35 km/h in the afternoon. Luckily, the sun was shining brightly and very little cloud cover managed to keep us quite warm and we ended the day in t-shirts once again! Raptor Observations: Despite the winds, raptors launched themselves head first over the marsh, sometimes changing their course to find the path of least resistance. Turkey Vultures streams all day and we ended our count with 2,616 individuals. Sharp-shinned Hawks we also abundant with 369 individuals, most of which tucked their wings back and flapped as hard as they could to make it across. The afternoon belonged to the falcons! 177 American Kestrels, 7 Merlins, and 10 Peregrine Falcons zipped by. We are also happy to report 12 Northern Harriers, 7 Cooper's Hawks, 7 Broad-winged Hawks, and finally 16 Red-tailed Hawks, who enjoyed travelling along the Northern edge of the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: Blue Jays were also to the party today with 22,640 individuals. In the morning they enjoyed flying right along side the Turkey Vultures, just to test my "clicker in each hand" abilities. American Goldfinches are still coming through in good numbers (453). A few more passerines this morning including a Blackburnian Warbler, Northern Parula, Nashville Warbler, and Kinglets. We heard our first Horned Lark of the season, and spotted 2 Monarch Butterflies. Tree Swallows fed over the marsh, just above American Wigeons, Wood Ducks, and Gadwalls. Full ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74542867 Predictions: The North-West winds we are craving are only expected overnight and will shift to the West by the morning. However, temperatures are expected to be warm, creating good thermals for groups of Turkey Vultures to mosey on over towards the marsh. Maybe a few more hawks will follow in their wake. ======================================================================== 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