Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 02, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 31 158 2407 Osprey 1 2 53 Bald Eagle 6 24 203 Northern Harrier 13 51 417 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 78 1304 Cooper's Hawk 1 3 36 Northern Goshawk 1 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 2 23649 Red-tailed Hawk 0 1 70 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 1 10 732 Merlin 1 7 45 Peregrine Falcon 5 6 58 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 64 343 28978 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Dave Brown Observers: Chris Burris, Dana Latour, Tim Arthur, Tim Foran, Tom Bolohan Visitors: Lots of visitors today. Thanks to everyone that helped with today’s count. Weather: Humid to start with fog patches that quickly cleared. Winds moderate from the SW for the start of the day increasing but backing slightly to the WSW as the day progressed. Temp started at 14C and got to a high of 24C. Raptor Observations: A somewhat disappointing day to be honest and the lack of a flight today may have been that the wind got too far around to the WSW which seemed to halt any kind of movement. However, we did have 5 more Peregrines today with 4 juveniles and 1 fantastic looking adult (possibly a male given its smaller looking size). All 5 of these birds were right overhead and there were several photographers that got some great shots of them. Otherwise, it was a small flight with just 64 birds tallied. The only other highlight was a young Northern Goshawk that crossed through at the ravine to the north of the observation knoll. Non-raptor Observations: Some non-raptors included N. Flickers, GC and RC Kinglets, E. Starlings, Carolina Wren, Ring-billed, Bonapartes and Herring Gulls, Am. Goldfinch, lots of Blue Jays as they continue a big push this week, Canada Geese, Am. Robin, DC Cormorant, Cedar Waxwing, Killdeer, Lesser and Greater Black-backed Gull, Common Yellowthroat, Palm Warbler, Swainson’s and Hermit Trushes. Red-bellied Woodpecker, Black-throated Blue Warbler., Common Raven (2), Common Loon, Song and White-throated Sparrows, YB Sapsucker, Blue-headed Vireo and Am. Redstart. Predictions: Well the forecast is for stronger SW winds for Sunday for the entire day BUT they're talking about patchy rain for the day as well. Interestingly, Peregrines will actually fly in some pretty nasty weather because they're using the strong push of air up the cliff to fly westward so they don't need nice weather to migrate through. That said, given such a small number today I'm not sure how many might be "in the pipe" and ready to psuh through tomorrow. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebrowns@ezlink.ca) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392