Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 02, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 2 2 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 0 0 Northern Harrier 1 2 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 4 4 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 1 1 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 3 6 6 Merlin 1 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 10 18 18 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Thank you to Hugh and Elizabeth Kent, our count coordinators, for their expertise today! Also thank you to John Barns for the quick visit to the top of the tower. Weather: A pleasant day on the tower with temperatures staying the mid 20 degrees Celsius. Winds were stronger today and blowing from the South-West and West. The sky was mostly cloudy and did bring us a small shower in the middle of the afternoon, but after the rain, the clouds parted and we ended the day under a beautiful blue sky. Raptor Observations: Migration is slowly picking up, as we made it to the double digits with 10 raptors flying over today. All three falcon species; American Kestrel, Merlin, and Peregrine Falcon we're counted. We also spent a portion of the afternoon excitedly observing a local Peregrine Falcon diving at the resident Ospreys and Bald Eagles over the marsh. Also migrating through were a Cooper's Hawks, a Northern Harrier, and a few Sharp-shinned Hawks, the last of which flew right above our heads offering us a great look. Non-raptor Observations: Today's main highlight came from a Prothonotary Warbler seen at the base of the tower fluttering close to the pond. Here's to hoping it will come back for another visit! Other passerines included Magnolia Warblers, Black-and-White Warblers, Warbling Vireos, and Red-eyed Vireos. Swallows were also in abundance, with the usual suspects being Purple Martins and Tree Swallows, but today we also counted over a hundred Barn Swallows and a few Cliff and Bank Swallows. Mixed among the swallows, we counted 43 Chimney Swifts. On the marsh, hidden between the Mute Swans you could spot a few American Coots, Pied-billed Grebes, Hooded Mergansers. Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73113610 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting another warm and sunny day with mild winds from the South once again. Even with less favourable winds, we are hoping raptors such as Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrel, and Merlins will keep migrating towards us and fly close to the tower. ======================================================================== 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