Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 12 586 52046 Osprey 0 0 9 Bald Eagle 0 3 62 Northern Harrier 9 71 677 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 87 8067 Cooper's Hawk 0 18 283 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 81 619 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 45368 Red-tailed Hawk 54 366 3096 Rough-legged Hawk 1 6 13 Golden Eagle 2 9 18 American Kestrel 0 3 1932 Merlin 0 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: 92 1237 112472 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:15:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8.75 hours Official Counter: Maryse Gagné Observers: 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: A very warm day on the tower, with the mercury reaching all the way to 18 degrees Celsius! Very hard to believe it is November! The winds blew in from the South-East, and a mix of sun and cloud broke up the blue sky. Raptor Observations: A rather slow day with less than 100 raptors in total. The most spectacular moment came when two Golden Eagles crossed the marsh at the same time! The two sub-adults came up over the eastern tree line, circled each other for a time and set off across the marsh. Red-tailed Hawks were the most abundant migrants with 54 individuals, while only 4 Red-shouldered Hawks were seen. A few more Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harriers, and Turkey Vultures were counted, only about a dozen individuals for each species. Finally, a gorgeous light-morph Rough-legged Hawk crossed in the afternoon. Non-raptor Observations: Today's most interesting observation came from seeing 10 Great Blue Herons all flying at the same time over a section of the marsh. Other migrants included American Robins, Cedar Waxwings, and American Goldfinches but their numbers were lower than in the last week. Ring-necked Ducks are taking over the marsh with over 2,000 individuals, looking like small black dots on the water. Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, and Ruddy Ducks are also seen in good numbers. Full eBird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S76096310 Predictions: Tomorrow could be interesting as the winds will shift (finally!) to the West during the day. Temperatures are still predicted to be warm, but with more clouds throughout the day. There are some Northern winds in the forecast, but at this moment they may only to pass at night. Let's hope that changes slightly. I think we are all excited to see what the next few days bring, hopefully that will include more raptors! ======================================================================== 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