Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1081 7905 8273 Osprey 0 6 30 Bald Eagle 10 67 135 Northern Harrier 27 230 352 Sharp-shinned Hawk 31 1751 3432 Cooper's Hawk 7 112 138 Northern Goshawk 1 9 9 Red-shouldered Hawk 163 395 396 Broad-winged Hawk 0 126 6313 Red-tailed Hawk 1085 2197 2201 Rough-legged Hawk 5 12 12 Golden Eagle 11 28 28 American Kestrel 1 289 836 Merlin 3 30 61 Peregrine Falcon 0 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: 2425 13172 22256 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10.5 hours Official Counter: Tom Bolohan Observers: Visitors: Thanks to Tom B for doing today's count. Some visitors to the site today Justin P., Jen M., John B., Kitty and Jenny L. and Michelle B. Weather: Well the winds hung in NE for the day though lighter than yesterday's winds it was still enough to keep a good number of raptors down along the Lake Erie shore line. There was also lots of cloud cover around for the day which always helps make it easier to spot the birds. Temps were quite cool to start at 2C and only getting to a high of 7C. Raptor Observations: A pretty good follow-up flight today with a total of 2,425 raptors tallied. We had another good push of Redtails (1,085) and Red-shoulders (163) with highlights being a long N. Goshawk, more Rough-legged Hawks (5) and more Golden Eagles (11 - a correction of 2 that Tom forgot to include in the first hour of the tally sheet). Of special note (and part of the reason for this correction posting) was the sighting of a LEUCISTIC REDTAIL that was photographed on Sunday as it passed overhead. The bird was completely white except for a few dark feathers (2 primaries in each wing it looks like) and had a dark looking eye in the photo. It reminded me of another leucistic Redtail from years ago that had literally a single dark feather in one wing. These birds are always interesting to see and if they're crossing time is noted and then they get spotted further along the lakeshore (say at Holiday Beach) their flight time and thus speed of travel could be calculated. Great bird and a big thanks to Tom B. for providing the photo. :) Non-raptor Observations: The only non-raptor reported today was a lone Sandhill Crane. Predictions: If the rain clears through eastward quick enough in the morning and with light N winds forecast the birds will likely continue to make their move along Lake Erie. There will be pretty much complete cloud cover for the day so spotting the birds will be easier. ======================================================================== 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