Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 08, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 2 2 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 1 1 Northern Harrier 4 13 13 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 8 8 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1 1 1 Red-tailed Hawk 3 5 5 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 22 78 78 Merlin 3 9 9 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 4 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Total: 37 127 127 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Stormy start to the day, with rain coming down hard for the first 30 minutes and a few cracks of thunder. Strong winds blew from the North in the morning, only to die down and turn to the East in the afternoon. This shift in the winds caused a sudden stop to the flow of birds, but luckily for the us, winds shifted back to the North for the last 2 hours of the count. Raptor Observations: What a blessing it was to have Northern winds today as we counted 37 migrants! 37 does not seem like a very high number of birds, but seeing how slow the start of the season has been, we were thankful for every raptor. Our main flyer was the American Kestrel (22), and we even counted our first Broad-winged Hawk. Northern Harriers, Merlins, and Sharp-shinned Hawks also joined us, flying right above the tower. here's to hoping there's plenty more where they came from! Non-raptor Observations: After the rain cleared up in the morning, swallows took full advantage of the insects on the marsh and fed in very high numbers over the water. Feeding among the swallows, we spotted a Nighthawk and Chimney Swifts (66). When the winds blew from the North again, Cedar Waxwings and Goldfinches passed in big flocks, and a few more Warblers were added to our list. Lastly, our marsh highlights were an American Bittern and a Black-crowned Night-Heron. Full ebird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S73359022 Predictions: Overnight winds are staying put at North-East and continuing all day tomorrow. The temperatures are expected to stay in the mid-20 degree Celsius which should be quite pleasant. We may see a real push of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Harriers, American Kestrels, and potentially a few more Broad-winged Hawks making their way down. ======================================================================== 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