Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 18 174 174 Osprey 0 21 21 Bald Eagle 5 82 82 Northern Harrier 2 134 134 Sharp-shinned Hawk 101 1327 1327 Cooper's Hawk 0 39 39 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 4 24783 24783 Red-tailed Hawk 2 126 126 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 260 624 624 Merlin 3 43 43 Peregrine Falcon 2 9 9 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 2 Unknown Buteo 1 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 4 4 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 398 27370 27370 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagne Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Elizabeth Kent, Hugh Kent Visitors: Thank you to Kitty Bradshaw and Gail Walker from Woodstock ON for their visit and their good eyes on the tower. We were also visited by a couple from Germany touring great birding spots in Ontario and Elise and Louis from Parry Sound also visiting birding sites in Ontario. Thanks to Michelle and Bob Hall-Brooks that took time to come count during one of our busiest hour. Thank you for stopping by! Weather: A gorgeous day for us on the tower, temperatures were hot but we welcomed a good cloud cover and strong 20 km/h winds from the West all day. Raptor Observations: A successful day for us as we counted 398 raptors. We had some variety but the raptor that took the cake was the American Kestrel, with a daily count of 260! In second place we had Sharp-shinned hawks with a daily total of 101. Most birds had some difficulty flying straight into the strong winds, but most of flew just above the tower, giving us the chance to get a good look. We also counted a few Merlins and Peregrine falcons in the mix. We had a good day, hoping for more where that came from! Non-raptor Observations: Today's non-raptor highlight came from a Palm Warbler! Not many other warblers to be seen in the trees except for two Redstarts in the afternoon. We were also excited to count 25 Chimney Swifts, always a pleasure to see them flying! Duck diversity is increasing in the marsh with Widgeons, Gadwalls and Shoverlers. We also counted many American Goldfinches flying above us and a few more Tree Swallows. Chimney Swift: 25 American Goldfinch: 110 Blue Jays: 28 American Crow: 32 Northern Flicker: 7 Cedar Waxwing: 38 Black Saddlebags: 11 Monarchs: 21 https://ebird.org/view/checklist/S60064323 Predictions: Tomorrow, we are expecting very similar weather as today; warm day with strong winds from the West. Hopefully, it will be just as, if not more successful! Hoping for more Kestrels, Merlins and Sharp-shinned Hawks. ======================================================================== 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