Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 194 4334 5402 Osprey 2 41 319 Bald Eagle 2 32 172 Northern Harrier 6 372 1186 Sharp-shinned Hawk 60 4051 11304 Cooper's Hawk 3 78 180 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 33 44 Broad-winged Hawk 0 504 99100 Red-tailed Hawk 5 130 194 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 2 793 4310 Merlin 0 21 161 Peregrine Falcon 0 24 76 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: 275 10415 122451 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Colin Horstead Observers: Jim Dunn, Kathy, Mary Carnahan, Wayne Parnall Visitors: Visitors today included Bruce and Monica Gates (Sudbury), Bonnie Ross (Windsor), Donna and David Weicker (Kitchener) and the DeBruine family with dad Randy and kids Zachary, Nathan, Hannah and Noah (Grand Rapids MI) who were a lot of fun and and showed a keen interest in birding. We're now about halfway though this year's count season and I have to give a BIG thankyou to the core group of volunteers that've been manning the hawkwatch basically every day so far. This core group includes Colin Horstead, Jim Dunn, Mary Carnahan, Keith Sealy, Jennifer and Derek Lyon, Mac McAlpine, Dave Verkley, Kathy, Eric Single and Mark Cunningham. There are many others to thank as well for their help as observers, visiting counters and contributing photographers (just too many to mention all by name here). When you visit, please make sure to say hi to the gang on the knoll...they're always ready to help! :) Weather: Rain early in the morning let up by 8:00 a.m. (EST) leaving heavy cloud cover...eventually breaking out a bit with some sunny patches. Winds were moderate from the NW for most of the day then died out by late afternoon. Storm clouds then formed moving past just north of Hawk Cliff ...with a spectacular rainbow against very dark skies. Temp to a high of 14C. Raptor Observations: Today's flight was 275 total birds... with mostly TV's (194)...the last 55 of which were spotted flying past with the rainbow as a backdrop. There was a decent count of Sharpies (60) and a few Northern Harriers (6) including a wonderful male harrier (or as we call them..."Gray Ghost")...always a visitor favourite. One of the few buteos to pass by today eventually showed itself to be a Red-shouldered Hawk (the only one for today) providing observers a great look at the crescents in the wings and bands in the tail. Of course, a real highlight toward the end of the day was a juvenile Golden Eagle that actually came toward the counters from the direction of the lake. Normally, this would provoke an ID of Bald Eagle (we very seldom see Goldens that close to the lake)...but this bird then angled further toward them, passing right over the observation knoll leaving no doubt as to its identity. It was aged as juvenile based on its nice even set of flight and tail feathers (no sign of moult) with a solid white band across the base of the tail and white wing patches. It then circled behind the knoll and joined up with a couple of Bald Eagles making for an excellent comparison of their silhouettes in flight. Non-raptor Observations: It was very quiet at the Cliff this morning, but as the day progressed we had some patches of warm sunshine which brought out passerines with lots of TREE SWALLOWS (one flock of at least 100). Jim Dunn's early morning check of the lake yielded 10 RUDDY DUCKS and a PIED-BILLED GREBE. The major highlight of the day was the YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO spotted (and photographed!) by two youngsters from Michigan, Zachary and Nathan DeBruine. This afternoon's insect highlights included 2 monarchs and a red admiral. Predictions: Tomorrow should be N and NW winds with sunshine...could be good after a day of rain. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected]) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
