Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 3398 68569 Osprey 0 0 26 Bald Eagle 0 40 182 Northern Harrier 7 70 577 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 136 7743 Cooper's Hawk 0 48 287 Northern Goshawk 0 2 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 173 579 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 5262 Red-tailed Hawk 1 1521 3042 Rough-legged Hawk 0 6 7 Golden Eagle 0 43 56 American Kestrel 0 3 1305 Merlin 0 7 124 Peregrine Falcon 0 11 99 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 Black Vulture 0 0 1 Total: 8 5458 87866 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Stasso, Jacob Observers: Hugh Kent, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman Visitors: We thank today's observers for their efforts and those interested in the ongoing Hawk Count. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, access to the top level of Hawk Tower is limited to hawk counters and qualified observers only. The 2nd and lower levels are open to the public practising COVID-19 safe precautions (social distancing). Thank you for your understanding and involvement. Weather: Temperatures started off at -2 and rose to about 2 C until snow activity dropped temperatures back down. Periodic snowfall was present throughout the morning until excessive snowfall and winds brought a swift end to the hawk watching day. Winds were primarily south-westerly throughout the day which also did not help hawk movement. Raptor Observations: Winds and snowy conditions made it unfavourable for raptor movement, with only 8 raptors seen today. Among these, 7 were Harriers which marked a nice increase for the species. 1 Red Tail also joined in. Non-raptor Observations: Marsh today was almost fully covered in ice which lowered waterfowl abundance and diversity. The most apparent decrease was in Ring-Necks with only 580 seen. Overall songbird movement was also low with the exception of Horned Larks with 295 passing over. A nice sight was 2 Brown Creepers, the first time they were observed around the tower this season! https://ebird.org/checklist/S98210651 Predictions: Temperatures tomorrow are expected to be similar with a low of -3 and a high of 2. Luckily winds will be westerly and clear skies are expected tomorrow, which may bring raptor observations back to improved levels. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jacob Stasso (jacobstasso@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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/hbmo/hbmo-hawk-watch-fall-2021