Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 24, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 815 6824 7192 Osprey 2 6 30 Bald Eagle 7 57 125 Northern Harrier 23 203 325 Sharp-shinned Hawk 80 1720 3401 Cooper's Hawk 18 105 131 Northern Goshawk 3 8 8 Red-shouldered Hawk 141 232 233 Broad-winged Hawk 1 126 6313 Red-tailed Hawk 682 1112 1116 Rough-legged Hawk 6 7 7 Golden Eagle 12 17 17 American Kestrel 7 288 835 Merlin 3 27 58 Peregrine Falcon 2 15 40 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 Total: 1802 10747 19831 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Dave Brown Observers: Catherine Manschot, Chris Burris, Dana Latour, Jason McGuire, Josh Vandermeulen, Mac McAlpine, Matt Mills, Matt Oswald, Rob Spaul, Ronnie Goodhand, Tim Arthur, Tom Bolohan, Tony Latour Visitors: A big thanks to the folks that helped with today's count... Chris, Tom, Matt, Matt M., Catherine M., Rob S., Josh V, Tim A., Tony and Dana L., Jason, Ronnie and others. Weather: Well the day started wet with a bit of drizzle first thing but eventually the clouds deck lifted a bit and birds started moving. The clouds broke out even more late morning and greater numbers of raptors were on the move. Temp was quite cool to start at 4C and getting to a high of just 7C. Winds were near perfect from the NW and then NNW. Raptor Observations: A great flight today with a total of 1,802 raptors tallied. And for the first time in ages we had ALL 15 species that we typically get through at Hawk Cliff in a season including a single late Broad-winged Hawk. The flight included a couple of Osprey (also getting late) with other raptor highlights including 12 Golden Eagles and 3 Northern Goshawks. Also a nice flight of buteos with Redtails (682), Red-shoulders (141) and Roughies (6) all light-morphs. Non-raptor Observations: This day was full of surprises in the non-raptor category.... not the least of which was a HUGE flight of Evening Grosbeaks throughout the day. We had at least 20+ flocks totalling a staggering 900+ (yes that's NOT a typo) of these amazing birds. Several of the flocks could be heard before they were seen as they approached us from the east and then passed right by overhead providing wonderful looks and photo ops. Even for many of the experienced observers it had us shaking our heads in disbelief. It makes one wonder why this species has decided to come south in such numbers? Other surprises today included 10 RAVENS... twice we observed 3 at one time soaring with a kettle of buteos and vultures. The others came through in pairs at different times through the day. Also 3 Eastern Meadowlarks. The rest of the non-raptor list is also pretty good with a few warblers - Yellow-rumped, Blackpoll, Palm and BT Green, Thrushes - Am. Robin (lots), Hermit and E. Bluebird (lots), Woodpeckers - Downy, Hairy, N. Flicker, Red-bellied and a fantastic looking Pileated that flew out of the tree line in front of us and came right towards us not 30 ft up, Sparrows - White-throated, White-crowned and Chipping, Finches - Purple, House and Am. Goldfinch, Waterfowl - Mallards, Common Merganser, Tundra Swans, Canada Geese, both Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches, Blackbirds - Rusty, Red-winged, Common Grackles, both Ruby-crowned and Golden-crowned Kinglets, DE Juncos, Am. Pipits, Pine Siskins, Carolina Wrens, N. Cardinal, a few Common Loons and some late Killdeer, a single Woodcock and finally an Egret (likely a GREG) flying to the south. Predictions: Sunday is forecast to have NE to E winds for the day. If there's a good mix of sun and cloud there may be a bit of a flight as a followup to today's flight. ======================================================================== 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