Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 35 488 51948 Osprey 0 0 9 Bald Eagle 0 3 62 Northern Harrier 5 47 653 Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 65 8045 Cooper's Hawk 6 14 279 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 26 62 600 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 64 230 2960 Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 10 Golden Eagle 1 7 16 American Kestrel 0 2 1931 Merlin 2 3 160 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 116 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 2 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 147 928 112163 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Elizabeth Kent 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: Another beautiful day on the tower, sunny and clear until late afternoon, light winds from the south east and temperatures starting at 11c and reaching a comfortable 17c in the afternoon. Raptor Observations: Quality not quantity today. Highlights were an immature Golden Eagle mid morning, first spotted perched but then flew off over the marsh. Red-tailed (64) and Red-shouldered Hawks (26) were in the majority, but it was great to see 2 Rough-legged Hawks fairly close low over the marsh. Surprisingly Cooper's matched Sharp-shinned Hawks at 6 each and there were 5 Northern Harriers including 2 beautiful Gray ghosts. It was good to see 2 Merlins flashing by. With 35 Turkey Vultures, a total of 9 species. Non-raptor Observations: Lots of movement of smaller birds today with good numbers of blackbirds; 1910 Red-winged Blackbirds, 443 Common Grackles and 330 Rusty Blackbirds. Surprisingly no Brown-headed Cowbirds, we did look for them! It was a joy seeing and hearing Eastern Bluebirds (332) overhead. Finches were ever present with Pine Siskins (103), American Goldfinches (101), House Finches (22) and Purple Finches (3). Horned Lark (64) and American Pipits (7) got our notice with their flight calls. Wildfowl numbers are up again, with Ring necked Duck (3640) showing as many black spots in the marsh. A good variety of duck species are present, nice to see Bufflehead and Hooded Merganser. A full list can be found at https://ebird.org/checklist/S76018524 Predictions: Tomorrow is forecast to be similar to today, so lets hope we get the same quality of species, but with a little more quantity! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Hugh Kent (Hughnkent@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