Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 30, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 813 49346 51450 Osprey 0 4 9 Bald Eagle 4 26 59 Northern Harrier 24 390 600 Sharp-shinned Hawk 59 4026 7975 Cooper's Hawk 7 191 263 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 29 530 531 Broad-winged Hawk 0 195 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 263 2523 2707 Rough-legged Hawk 1 7 7 Golden Eagle 1 9 9 American Kestrel 1 717 1929 Merlin 1 54 157 Peregrine Falcon 1 54 110 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 1 1 2 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 1205 58075 111180 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Michelle Mastellotto 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: Cool day on the tower as the temperature did not reach higher than 4 degrees Celsius and a strong wind blew from the North-West all day. Most of the day was quite overcast apart from a lovely two hours in the afternoon when the sun managed to peak it's way through the clouds and show off some blue sky. Raptor Observations: Nothing like a whole bunch of raptors to make you forget you need an extra layer! A steady flow brought 1205 raptors to the tower. Of course, Turkey Vultures were our main migrant with 813 individuals, but Red-tailed Hawks had our attention with a very healthy 263 individuals. Red-shouldered Hawks came with 29 individuals and 59 Sharp-shinned Hawks zipped across the marsh. 4 adult Bald Eagles passed by the tower and we desperately tried to changed them to Golden Eagles, but to no avail. Luckily, one Golden Eagle flew by the tower in the afternoon, as well as one Rough-legged Hawk and one Peregrine Falcon. Non-raptor Observations: Our main highlight today was counting 300 Evening Grosbeaks! Many flocks of approximately 20 individuals flew throughout the day, but our last flock had over 100 individuals. Today's first flock sat in a tree for a few minutes before flying off . A few hundred American Crows crossed the marsh, and only 200 Blue Jays were counted. We have noticed a drop in the number of Mute Swans, Gadwalls, and Ring-necked Ducks, but only by a few hundred individuals. Our newest addition to our marsh list was a Horned Grebe! Full ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75615477 Predictions: Cool start the day tomorrow with the mercury dropping below zero! The sun should start to shine right away which should warm the air up quickly and the winds will be from the South. Could go either way for raptors, some remaining migrants from our last batch of northern winds may find their way to the tower with the warm air, or they will all fly far North of us. Let's hope they find their way 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: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100