Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 13 5152 54388 Osprey 0 0 36 Bald Eagle 0 39 232 Northern Harrier 3 332 789 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 410 5378 Cooper's Hawk 0 82 319 Northern Goshawk 0 0 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 9 615 830 Broad-winged Hawk 0 6 25779 Red-tailed Hawk 101 4440 5258 Rough-legged Hawk 0 21 21 Golden Eagle 2 25 28 American Kestrel 0 23 1733 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: 128 11187 95019 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Dave Martin, Linda Wladarski, Paul Pratt, Rick Brown Visitors: Thank you to Noel and Juliette for their visit this morning, glad you were able to spot raptors! Additional thank you to Tom, who came all the way from Ohio to see a Golden Eagle...boy am I glad you managed to see the first one! Also big thanks to Dave Martin, Linda Wladarski, Rick Brown, and Paul Pratt for their lovely and lively visit in the afternoon! Weather: Strong North-West winds started the day, but they eventually died down to a more comfortable speed. A pretty thick cloud cover for most of the day, but it did open up from 1100-1300, giving us good amount of blue sky to spot the many migrants. Raptor Observations: North-West winds did not disappoint today, bringing us 128 raptors! The most numerous were Red-tailed Hawks, coming in at 101 individuals. A few Red-shouldered Hawks and Turkey Vultures mixed in with the Red-tails, as well as 3 Northern Harriers, one of which was a male. Lastly, we counted 2 Golden Eagles, one adult at 11:30 and a sub-adult, flying just over the tower at 2:30, quite a special last bird of the day. Non-raptor Observations: Today's non-raptor highlight came from a few flocks of Sandhill cranes! Overall, we counted 44 flyers, coming in a few batches. Other migrants were American Goldfinches, American Crows, a few House Finches, Eastern Bluebirds and Snow Buntings. Some Tundra Swans made their way across the marsh, along with many mergansers and ducks. Ducks are always present, mostly Mallards and Buffleheads. Also spotted were two Cormorants, I guess they have not left yet! Check out our full eBird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61826804 Predictions: Tomorrow we are also expecting a promising day, with a full cloud cover and gentle winds from the North and North-East all day long. This will mostly likely be our last good day of counting, as Saturday does not seem as nice. I am really hoping that raptors will give us a good final push before we close up shop for the season. Fingers crossed! ======================================================================== 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