Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 21, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 12 1003 52463 Osprey 0 0 9 Bald Eagle 4 25 84 Northern Harrier 5 122 728 Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 140 8120 Cooper's Hawk 7 56 321 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 42 210 748 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 371 2069 4799 Rough-legged Hawk 2 20 27 Golden Eagle 3 25 34 American Kestrel 1 5 1934 Merlin 0 5 162 Peregrine Falcon 0 6 118 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 2 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 453 3687 114922 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: Elizabeth Kent, Hugh Kent, Kory Renaud 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: A cooler day after another warm spell. The temperatures hovered around 5 degrees Celsius, with a slight breeze from the North all day. The clouds were thick in the morning, but thinned out in the afternoon revealing a gorgeous blue sky in which many raptors flew. Raptor Observations: All signs pointed to a good day, but have been disappointed in the past...not today! Raptors delivered on their promise, and we ended our day with 453 individuals. Red-tailed Hawks ruled the sky today with 371 individuals, most flying in the late afternoon. Red-shouldered Hawks also came in good number with 42 individuals. Sharp-shins, Cooper's, and Harriers sometimes mixed in some buteo streams. In addition, we counted two light-morph Rough-legged Hawks, an American Kestrel, and tree Golden Eagles. As the season winds down, it was great to see a great numbers of hawks! Non-raptor Observations: Big movements of Common Redpolls today as 170 individuals zipped past the tower. The flocks just kept coming! Of course, American Goldfinches, Cedar Waxwings, and Horned Larks also flew by. Also moving along in big numbers today were American Crows with 2710 individuals. At the base of the tower, American Tree Sparrows are abundant and we had our first Fox Sparrow of the year. On the lake, thousands of Canvasbacks formed rafts, bobbing up and down on the water. Full eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S76517722 Predictions: Tomorrow looks like it will be a damp day. A mix of snow and rain is expected in the morning, only to turn to rain by mid-morning. The wind will be coming from the North-East, hopefully pushing any hawks attempting to migrate close to the tower. Northern Harriers are known for travelling in the worst weather, tomorrow could be a good day for them. Stay dry, folks! ======================================================================== 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