Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 17, 2009
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 691 20301 20783
Osprey 0 7 137
Bald Eagle 7 67 229
Northern Harrier 10 237 518
Sharp-shinned Hawk 134 5942 9956
Cooper's Hawk 16 184 261
Northern Goshawk 9 20 20
Red-shouldered Hawk 100 307 310
Broad-winged Hawk 2 85 22166
Red-tailed Hawk 310 1923 1975
Rough-legged Hawk 3 4 4
Golden Eagle 12 20 21
American Kestrel 8 733 2749
Merlin 2 13 63
Peregrine Falcon 1 65 121
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 1305 29908 59313
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Ches Caister, Colin Horstead, Jim Dunn
Observers: Alf Rider, Ches Caister, Dave Brown, Don Taylor,
Jason McGuire, Jim Dunn, Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine,
Mark Cunningham, Mary Carnahan, Mike Nelson, Paul Thomas,
Rebecca Vile, Shay Redmond, Su Ross-Redmond, Wayne Parnall
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today including a group of students from the University of
Guelph Wildlife club (Chantal, Kristen, Paul, Josh, Tim, Feng Wie, Emily,
and another Kristen)...Chris and Raluca and many more I didn't get names
for. thanks to everyone that helped with spotting the birds today.
Weather:
Another nice hawkwatching day today...in fact much more comfortable than
the past few days with more sunshine providing some warmth. Luckily, the
cloud cover hung in for the day...though at one point it looked like we
were going to lose it altogether. The winds were very light from the NE to
start which delayed the flight...but eventually they picked up to moderate
and the birds started to move.
Raptor Observations:
A typical October flight with great species variety with 14 of our usual 15
species tallied (we only missed Osprey). The total for the day was 1305
birds....with highlights being the Golden Eagles (12), Roughlegs (3) all of
shich were dark morphs and Goshawks (9). The first of these Goshawks
provided one of the closest views I've personally ever had of this species.
It approached the counters right on top of the corn in the field directly
in front of us. It actually passed overhead no more than 10 feet up and
looked right at us providing a perfect view of its heavy white eyebrow
stripe. It was a juvenile...and in fact all of the Goshawls today were
juveniles. The first two and last goldens of the day were all at tree top
level as well.
Non-raptor Observations:
A substantial movement of passerines today with large flocks of Blackbirds
(mixed flcoks of Grackles, Red-winged and BH Cowbirds) and a small flock of
Rusty Blackbirds, several small flocks of Eastern Bluebirds, a few Puprple
Finch, flocks of Robins, both nuthatches, both s, Woodpeckers: Pileated,
Downie, Red-bellied, N. Flicker, Sparrows: Song, Field, chipping,
White-throated, also Common Merganser, Common Loon, Great Blue
Heron,Warblers: Tenessee, Blackpoll, Yellow-rumped...Blue-headed Vireo and
Hermit thrush (2).
Predictions:
Sunday looks like a decent day for raptors to be on the move and predicted
N winds should help push them down to the lake much like today.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected])
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
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