Holiday Beach Hawk Watch Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 2812 12432 19616 Osprey 0 2 13 Bald Eagle 1 31 283 Northern Harrier 11 94 412 Sharp-shinned Hawk 53 1229 5075 Cooper's Hawk 3 55 147 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 84 85 Broad-winged Hawk 0 42 65701 Red-tailed Hawk 13 444 620 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 10 348 1740 Merlin 1 11 70 Peregrine Falcon 5 16 68 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: 2910 14790 93832 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Hugh Kent Observers: John Winebrenner, Lisa Silvey, Liz Kent, Noel Herdman Visitors: A huge thanks to John, Lisa and Noel for helping to spot those distant raptors to the north! Thanks to all the visitors to the Tower today for showing and interest in the marsh and the Hawk Watch. Thanks to visitors Ramesh and Chandra for also helping to spot raptors. Weather: The day started cold but sunny. Temperatures rose through the day to the low teens. The cloud cover was variable, starting clear, becoming overcast mid-morning and then remaining cloudy. The wind remained from the SW, light at first rising to strong in the afternoon. Visibility was good. Raptor Observations: A good number of Turkey Vultures (2812) passed by, mainly to the north. Sharp-shinned Hawks were the next highest at 53, but lower than previous days. Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks and American Kestrels all reached around 10. Remainder were in low single figures, but 5 Peregrine Falcons were notable, with many giving good value with aerial acrobatics. A total of 10 species were seen. Non-raptor Observations: Ducks are slowly increasing in number and variety with 8 species seen. Ring-necked Ducks are gradually appearing more on the marsh with 160 seen today. Herons, egrets and cormorants are all in low numbers now. It was notable that we saw more American White Pelicans (40) flying over the marsh than all herons, egrets and cormorants put together. It was nice to see 3 Sandhill Cranes flying close past the Tower. Passerines are present in lower numbers, with Yellow-rumped Warblers still top of the warbler list with 12 around the tower. American Goldfinch (180) are sustaining numbers, as are Tree Swallows with 250 hawking over the marsh. New for the season list were 5 American Pipit seen on a muddy fringe in the marsh. The list is at https://ebird.org/checklist/S120259343 Predictions: The forecast is pretty similar to today, with winds from WSW and slightly warmer. Turkey Vultures will probably lead the cast, but we hope for more Buteos within the streams of Turkey Vultures. ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/hbmo/hbmo-hawk-watch-fall-2022