Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 893 48533 50637 Osprey 0 4 9 Bald Eagle 2 22 55 Northern Harrier 5 366 576 Sharp-shinned Hawk 52 3967 7916 Cooper's Hawk 3 184 256 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 63 501 502 Broad-winged Hawk 0 195 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 345 2260 2444 Rough-legged Hawk 2 6 6 Golden Eagle 2 8 8 American Kestrel 1 716 1928 Merlin 2 53 156 Peregrine Falcon 3 53 109 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 1373 56870 109975 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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: Today's weather was all over the map. Started with some rain in the morning which let up after an hour and we climbed to the top level of the tower. Overcast and slow, the promising Northern winds seemed to laugh at us but, some blue sky could been seen in the distance. Slowly, the patch of blue widened to our entire area, the Northern wind picked up, and we were off to the races with hundreds of birds flying! By the end of the day, dark purple clouds had made their way back over the marsh, creating a gloomy and spooky atmosphere. Raptor Observations: What a spectacular day on the tower! Of course, we were not anticipating such a good day, particularly with a slow and wet start. In a bizarre twist, our first few birds were an American Kestrel and Merlin flying early in the morning. Later on, we added 3 Peregrine to our count, great to still see falcons! As noon approached, spirits were lifted when the Red-shouldered Hawks started to come in and followed closely by Red-tailed Hawks. The Red-tails took the cake with 345 individuals compared to the 63 Red-shoulders. Turkey Vultures were abundant as well with 893 individuals. Finally, we were so happy to count two Golden Eagles and two light-morph Rough-legged Hawks in the late afternoon. Today we were lucky to count 12 out of the regular potential 15 species on the tower only missing Osprey, Northern Goshawk and Broad-winged Hawk. You never know what you'll see on the tower! Non-raptor Observations: The American Crows made a name for themselves today! 32,170 crows were counted passing the tower (hats off to Liz!), and they enjoyed mixing with groups of Turkey Vultures and Red-tailed Hawks. Many lose flocks of finches, Horned Larks, Cedar Waxwings, Eastern Bluebirds and American Robins passed by the tower. We were also happy to count 70 Evening Grosbeaks. A few flocks of Tundra Swans flew over the marsh as well as a small group a Trumpeter Swans. Of course, the Mute Swans are still present, but numbers are dwindling slightly. Full ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S75573818 Predictions: Tomorrow also looks promising, with North-Western winds all day and mix of sun and cloud. Temperatures will be brisk and the wind will keep thing cool, but hopefully some sun and a whole lot of flying raptors will keep us warm. Finger crossed for another great day! ======================================================================== 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: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100