Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1315 43644 44502 Osprey 0 10 35 Bald Eagle 1 78 170 Northern Harrier 4 158 400 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 2228 4619 Cooper's Hawk 2 145 207 Northern Goshawk 0 4 4 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 60 60 Broad-winged Hawk 0 863 25773 Red-tailed Hawk 5 387 531 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 3 3 American Kestrel 4 451 1672 Merlin 1 21 102 Peregrine Falcon 0 25 46 Unknown Accipiter 0 3 5 Unknown Buteo 0 8 9 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 4 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 1344 48088 78143 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Visitors: Thank you to John Barnes for his visit to the tower and his picture of the Golden Eagle, and to Noel who visited in the afternoon to spot some Turkey Vultures and try not to be blown away by the wind. Weather: Winds from the South and South-West all day, picking up in speed as the day progressed reaching top speeds of 35km/h. The cloud cover came in and out and rain started to fall late in the day. Raptor Observations: We experienced another relatively slow day, with mostly Turkey Vultures flying (1,315). A few Sharp-shinned Hawks (11), and American Kestrels (4) flew by, having a hard time fying against the wind. Cooper's hawks (2), Northern Harriers (4), and Red-tailed Hawks (5) did not have as much of an issue with the wind but were not flying very much. The highlight came from an immature Golden Eagle flying low over the tower at 10:50 this morning! Thanks to John Barns for taking a quick picture to confirm identification with Bob Hall-Brooks at the banding station. Non-raptor Observations: This morning the Starlings were very abundant over the tower, forming many murmurations and continuing most of the day. Not much else was flying today, but we did count many species of ducks on the marsh including Gadwalls, Widgeons, Pintails, Blue-winged Teals, Shovelers and Ruddy ducks. We only counted 20 Blue jays and 104 American Crows, definitely a slow day when even they aren't moving! Hopefully it'll pick up soon again! https://ebird.org/checklist/S60853938 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting a similar day, mostly sunshine and strong winds from the South-West all day. Hopefully, more will fly tomorrow including Turkey Vultures, Red-tailed Hawks and maybe another Golden Eagle or two! ======================================================================== 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