Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 29 1756 1756 Osprey 1 4 4 Bald Eagle 0 29 29 Northern Harrier 4 198 198 Sharp-shinned Hawk 48 3603 3603 Cooper's Hawk 2 63 63 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 0 45173 45173 Red-tailed Hawk 0 184 184 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 2 1028 1028 Merlin 5 86 86 Peregrine Falcon 7 37 37 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: 98 52165 52165 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: Damian Barrett, Elizabeth 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! You may notice that sometimes we report more than 2 observers. This is because observers take turns on the tower ensuring that the three-person limit is maintained. Weather: Overcast day with wind starting NW then shifting to S with a bit of westerly aspect at times. Temperature stayed at around 20c in the morning, but reduced to 15c over the afternoon. Bouts of drizzle ending in rain during the last hour. Visibility was variable throughout the day. Raptor Observations: Quiet day for raptors on the tower with the usual mix, good to see 7 Peregrines including a really nice adult and a further 5 Merlins came through invariably chasing Blue Jays. Non-raptor Observations: Today broke all records for a single day Blue Jay count, an incredible 81,920!!! beating the previous highest count by nearly 27,000. For the first few hours it was virtually a continuous stream! American Goldfinches came along for the ride with a count of over 1000. The variety of ducks are increasing on the marsh and again there were good numbers of Tree Swallows hawking over the marsh. A full list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S74186132 Predictions: Hopefully tomorrow will be not as overcast as today, bringing the raptor numbers up. Wind is in the SW so we expect more Sharp-shins, falcons and Northern Harriers. Maybe Turkey Vulture numbers will start to build, but the big question is - will there be any Blue Jays tomorrow? ======================================================================== Report submitted by Hugh Kent (Hughnkent@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