Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 221 660 660 Osprey 0 24 24 Bald Eagle 1 92 92 Northern Harrier 31 207 207 Sharp-shinned Hawk 109 2288 2288 Cooper's Hawk 3 60 60 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 98 24910 24910 Red-tailed Hawk 6 144 144 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 25 1111 1111 Merlin 0 80 80 Peregrine Falcon 0 20 20 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 2 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 4 4 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 494 29604 29604 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagne Observers: Elizabeth Kent, Hugh Kent Visitors: Thank you to our visitors today who helped to point out flocks of Blue Jays coming over our heads. Thank you to David and Michelle, Bree and her family, as well as Martha and her friends from Victoria B.C. Weather: Today was pleasant day on the tower, with warm temperatures and staying mostly overcast. The humidity was very high for most of day and the wind blew from the North-East most of the morning only to change to East and South-East in the afternoon. Raptor Observations: We had a variety of raptors passing over us today, with the biggest numbers going to the Turkey Vultures (221). We also counted many Sharp-shinned hawks (109), and our highest count of Northern Harriers so far this season, 31. To our delight, we counted 98 Broad-winged hawks, potentially the last ones to migrate for the season. Hopefully we'll count a few more! Non-raptor Observations: We had a lot of activity on the tower, but today was all about the Blue Jays, with a daily count of 22,920! Other highlights, that we managed to count between masses of Blue Jays, included many warblers, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, Red-bellied woodpeckers, Tree Swallows, Brown Thrashers, Nighthawks, and many murmurations of starlings. Busy day! Yellow-rumped warbler: 33 Magnolia Warbler: 3 Black-throated green Warbler: 3 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: 4 Red-bellied Woodpecker: 1 Northern Flicker: 19 Tree Swallow: 970 Ruby-crowned Kinglet: 8 Starling: 844 Black Saddlebag: 24 Monarch: 142 https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60246445 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting a hot day on the tower with some pretty unfavourable winds coming from the South-West most of the day. However, Sharp-shinned Hawks and Kestrels have been known to fly in these conditions, hopefully they will make their way towards us. After today's Blue Jay success, we are hoping for another big migration from them. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Maryse Gagne (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