Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, ON Grimsby, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 03, 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1 2 2 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 0 2 Northern Harrier 1 1 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 2 2 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 15 26 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown UA 0 0 0 Unknown UB 0 0 0 Unknown UF 0 0 0 Unknown UE 0 0 0 Unknown UR 0 0 0 Total: 6 22 35 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Bill Brown Observers: Weather: A cool morning climbed to a high of 12 degrees, although the wind chill made it feel cooler. There was drizzle during the 9-10 a.m. timeframe and on/off dirzzle in the last hour ended the watch at 2 pm. today. There was continuous cloud cover all day except for a couple of very brief appearances by the sun lasting only a very few minutes. Observations: The morning watch was very poor with no raptors in the flightpath. A sole red-tail broke the monotony in the hour before noon and three of his companions joined in the next hour. A sole Turkey Vulture made its appearance and lovely male Northern Harrier flapped by about 5 minutes after 1. Intermittent drizzle after that point kept other birds down. The counter was greeted this morning by the usual pair of Northern cardinals who called to each other for an hour or so. Tom Reavley stopped by to say hello and be sure everything was AOK. A group of around 10 American Robins searched the ground diligently looking for delicacies around 9:00 a.m. After the drizzle stopped, around 10:20 a.m., a small flock of junkos invaded the parking lot, kicking up quite a fuss with their noisy hunt for food under every leaf. Six Canada Geese headed south around 10:30 and four more headed NW around 10:49 a.m. At 10:49 a group of 5 crows took great exception to our now upright decoy owl and began to mob him (it). Due to the stoic nature of the owl they settled for glaring at it from an ajoining tree and eventually lost interest. Did I mention that there were NO raptors up to this point? The counter was joined by Marty from Mississauga who helped pass the time with some interesting conversation and participated in a few raptor observations. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Bill Brown ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Beamer Conservation Area, Grimsby, ON information may be found at: http://www.hwcn.org/link/niaghawk/index.html Beamer Conservation Area is located on top of the Niagara Escarpment above the town of Grimsby, Ontario. The site is 1km south of the south shore of Lake Ontario, 20km east of Hamilton, 40km west of Niagara Falls. To get to Beamer CA, take the QEW to Exit 72, follow Christie St./Mountain St. to the top of the escarpment, turn right on Ridge Road West, and go 1.6km to Quarry Rd. Turn right on Quarry Rd. and drive 100m to the conservation area. Parking is normally available inside the park. If parking at the entrance or on the roads, do NOT leave valuables in your car. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Visit http://www.ofo.ca/ontbirdsguide.htm for information on leaving and joining the list. As well as general information and content guidelines.
