Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 606 1022 1022 Osprey 1 2 2 Bald Eagle 1 27 27 Northern Harrier 24 125 125 Sharp-shinned Hawk 660 2052 2052 Cooper's Hawk 11 43 43 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 13042 41853 41853 Red-tailed Hawk 41 165 165 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 101 929 929 Merlin 4 48 48 Peregrine Falcon 0 9 9 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 14491 46278 46278 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Kory Renaud, Noel Herdman 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: Slightly chiller day mostly due to the strong Northern winds. Luckily these winds did bring along many raptors which flew very high against a bright blue sky in the morning. A decent cover of fluffy white clouds appeared later in the morning which was very helpful to locate raptors. Raptor Observations: We have been blessed with Northern winds during the peak of Broad-winged Hawk migration and it shows. Today we counted another 13,042 Broad-wings flying over the tower. The action started quickly with the individuals that roosted in the area overnight. After a slight lull in the early afternoon, kettles picked up again and we finished strong with many thousands by 4 o'clock! Broad-wings were not the only ones flying today; our next most abundant hawk were Sharp-shinned Hawks (660), followed closely by Turkey Vultures (606). American Kestrels were very abundant as well, with 101 individuals zipping through on the strong winds, and we also counted 41 Red-tailed Hawks. We are always happy to count Northern Harriers, Merlins, and today a few more Cooper's Hawks. We are very happy to report that so far our season total stand at 41,000 Broad-winged Hawks. Out of 41 years of counting, only 15 years have seen more than 40,000 Broad-winged Hawks in a year, so we are very happy to be seeing such good numbers! Non-raptor Observations: We did not have as much time to focus on the non-raptor species flying over the marsh, however we did have a clicker dedicated to Blue Jays and it recorded 9,940 individuals. Other major migrants were American Goldfinches, and a few more Tree Swallows. We were happy to count Red-breasted Nuthatches, Chimney Swifts, Common Nighthawks, and a few more Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. On the marsh, some new species of ducks are slowly appearing like six Northern Pintails. We were also entertained by our local Peregrine Falcon swiping at many other migrants today! Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73755429 Predictions: We will have a chilly start to the day as overnight temperatures are expected to drop to 6 degree Celsius. By the time we warm up, winds are expected to blow from the North-East all day, therefore might as well hope for another batch of Broad-winged Hawks! Our other species of accipiters and falcons should also be migrating tomorrow alongside a few more kettle of Broad-winged Hawks. ======================================================================== 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