Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 22, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 34 1583 1583 Osprey 1 3 3 Bald Eagle 0 27 27 Northern Harrier 4 161 161 Sharp-shinned Hawk 100 2586 2586 Cooper's Hawk 0 50 50 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 45167 45167 Red-tailed Hawk 0 184 184 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 3 945 945 Merlin 3 55 55 Peregrine Falcon 3 12 12 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 148 50776 50776 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Noel Herdman 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 with perfectly respectable temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius and only a slight bit of wind coming in from the South-West for most of the day. We did notice a hazy sky in the morning, but the residual smoke dissipated in the afternoon. Raptor Observations: Not very many raptors flew by the tower today, 148 in total. Sharp-shinned Hawks were once again the main migrant with 100 individuals. No other species came close to the same numbers but we had small groups of Turkey Vultures in the afternoon. An Osprey was spotted migrating very high, while 4 Northern Harriers took the lower route over the marsh. We were fortunate to count 3 American Kestrels, 3 Merlins, and 3 Peregrine Falcons flying at break neck speeds over the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: Our sky was blue with Blue Jays today! Seemingly endless streams of Blue Jays flew over the tower, and by the end of the day we had counted 26,780 individuals! Our other abundant migrants were American Goldfinches with 1,092 individuals counted. The golden "chip-and-dips" flew past in relatively big groups of 15-25 individuals. Sparrows are slowly making their way to the tower, and we counted our first Chipping Sparrow of the season. On the marsh, we are seeing more varieties of ducks, including Pintails, Gadwalls, Widgeons, Wood Ducks, and Coots. We also spotted a group of Semipalmated Polvers flying past. Still many Tree Swallows feeding over the marsh and a few Hummingbirds and Chimney Swifts are still coming through. Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73938523 Predictions: Tomorrow we are expecting a hotter day with temperatures reaching the mid-20 degree Celsius with winds blowing from the West and the South-West later in the day. We are hoping to keep seeing the same variety of raptors and expect that tomorrow will be similar to today. ======================================================================== 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: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100