Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 1849 10473 12577 Osprey 0 2 7 Bald Eagle 2 7 40 Northern Harrier 17 139 349 Sharp-shinned Hawk 300 2379 6328 Cooper's Hawk 6 54 126 Northern Goshawk 1 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 9 10 Broad-winged Hawk 1 154 45327 Red-tailed Hawk 17 79 263 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 52 633 1845 Merlin 3 30 133 Peregrine Falcon 1 26 82 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 2250 13986 67091 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Michelle Mastellotto 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: Quite the warm day on the tower, given the slight wind and lack of cloud cover for most of the day. The wind did not want to make up its mind today, blowing first from the North, then the West, and finally shifting all the way to the South-East at the end of the day. Clear blue sky for most of the day, until the last two hours when fluffy white clouds came in, giving our eyes a very welcomed break from the sun. Raptor Observations: Very happy to report our first Northern Goshawk of the season! The chunky and stiff-winged accipiter flew in straight over our heads giving us a good look at it's juvenile plumage. Hopefully we will spot a few more this season. Just as we started to wonder where all the vultures had gone a massive kettle, I'd even call it a "cauldron" of Turkey Vultures appeared over the North-Eastern treeline with approximately 1,300 individuals. The majority of our Turkey Vultures came within that hour and few were seen during the rest of the day. Our usual migrants also flew including 300 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 52 American Kestrels. A good number of Red-tailed Hawks and Northern Harrier flew in, particularly in the afternoon. Only 3 Merlin and a single Peregrine Falcon were counted, quite different than yesterday's count. Finally, only a single Broad-winged Hawk and a Red-shouldered Hawk flew-by the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: Every time we think the Blue Jays may slow down, they prove us wrong, and boy did they do that today! We counted 78,720 individual Blue Jays by the end of the afternoon, and they were still coming when we left. In the morning, they flew very high over our heads, but later they flew slightly lower mixing with the thousands of Starlings also moving around the marsh. Sparrows showed up to the tower including White-crowned, White-throated, and Lincoln's Sparrow as well as Dark-eye Juncos. A small flurry of small birds in the afternoon brought us a lot of Golden and Ruby-crowned Kinglets, a Brown Creeper, Nashville and Yellow-rumped Warblers as well as an immature Canada Warbler! Today it was one of those days where there was always something to see in the sky or trees! Full ebird checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S74579824 Predictions: Overnight Northern winds are expected to flip all the way to South by the morning. This may bring us a few more passerines but not as many hawks. However, I'm sure Blue Jays will keep us busy anyways. The day should be sunny and warm with some good thermal action if the vultures decide to move by the tower. Fingers crossed they will move! ======================================================================== 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