Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 20, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 3361 31714 36591 Osprey 0 8 25 Bald Eagle 0 37 119 Northern Harrier 40 230 433 Sharp-shinned Hawk 270 3748 7096 Cooper's Hawk 11 111 193 Northern Goshawk 0 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 8 55 58 Broad-winged Hawk 0 19 5260 Red-tailed Hawk 119 471 606 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 15 661 1286 Merlin 1 20 110 Peregrine Falcon 2 30 81 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3827 37107 51861 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Stasso, Jacob Observers: Andrew Fix, Heather Broddy, Hugh Kent, Klekner, Olga, Liz Kent, Michael Arthurs Visitors: We thank all today's observers for their outstanding efforts and those interested in the ongoing Hawk Count. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, access to the top level of Hawk Tower is limited to hawk counters and qualified observers only. The 2nd and lower levels are open to the public practising COVID-19 safe precautions (social distancing). Thank you for your understanding and involvement. Forecast Weather: Weather today consisted of clear skies and warm temperatures, with temperatures rising from 10 degrees in the morning to a high of 21 C. Southerly and souther-westerly wind dominated the day, however wind strength died down by afternoon. Raptor Observations: Turkey vulture migration continues although at lower levels then yesterday (3361). Additionally Sharpie movement remains within the hundreds, today at 270. Northern Harrier movement was strong but not as strong as yesterday's (40). Buteo movement today was brief but still numerous with 119 Red tails and 8 Red Shoulders. Falcon movement was low, with Kestrels only making up 15. Interestingly, all raptor movement seemed to die off by the onset of afternoon as the winds died down. Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptor diversity was standard, with diverse marsh numbers and high marsh counts of waterfowl. Blue Jay movement continues but it remains at lower levels (3720). Crow movement is picking up with today's number at 370. Blackbird movements have slightly slowed down while an extreme abundance of Starling murmurations were present with numbers totally 50,000. Of course a Peregrine was consistently harassing these murmurations! Monarch levels were slightly higher today at 11. https://ebird.org/checklist/S96483566 Predictions: Tomorrow it is predicted to be quite rainy in the morning until about noon with strong south-westerly winds being present throughout the whole day until a shift to westerly at around 4 pm. Due to these factors, temperatures are expected to be lower. Hopefully, rain and strong southerly wind will not impede raptor movements but it is likely. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jacob Stasso (jacobstasso@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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/hbmo/hbmo-hawk-watch-fall-2021