Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 971 31787 32867 Osprey 1 25 133 Bald Eagle 0 46 143 Northern Harrier 22 272 609 Sharp-shinned Hawk 63 3589 9204 Cooper's Hawk 8 302 402 Northern Goshawk 0 4 4 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 184 185 Broad-winged Hawk 0 651 16133 Red-tailed Hawk 48 772 960 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 3 Golden Eagle 3 8 8 American Kestrel 1 340 1441 Merlin 0 28 101 Peregrine Falcon 0 22 47 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 2 Unknown Buteo 0 9 12 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 2 2 Mississippi Kite 0 0 1 Total: 1119 38045 62257 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Todd Pepper Observers: Claude Radley, Jim McCoy, Larry Ludwicki, Mike Fitzpatrick Visitors: No visitors today other than regulars with "Qualified Observer" status. Weather: Not as predicted. Instead of the predicted north winds they started at WNW, swung W, and finally, SW tapering off in speed as the day went on. Temperature ranged from 6.4 - 12.8. Day started off completely cloudly and was down to 20% at end of the count. Steady barometric pressure with a range from 29.66 - 29.7 Raptor Observations: 1127 individuals of 9 species. Good counts for TV's, Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned and Red-tailed Hawks. Also 3 Golden Eagles, all immature and all well out to the north over the tree line. Non-raptor Observations: Almost the first birds of the day were 3 Cave Swallows heading west. Red-winged Blackbirds flowed by the tower all day. 2665 Am. Crows counted in first 4 hours and then the numbers became uncountable. Random minute counts ranged from 300 - 500 Crows per minute for the next 3.5 hours so anywhere from 60,000 - 90,000 Am. Crows migrated today. They came to a dead stop at 2:30 EST. 2 flocks of Killdeer totalling 39; 7 flocks of Tundra Swan totalling 135; 2 Greater Yellowlegs both flying at different times with the Red-Winged Blackbirds; a Solitary Sandpiper foraged in the pond adjacent to the tower all day. Other migrants included: Purple Finch, Yellow-rumped Warblers, and hundreds of Black-capped Chickadees. A migrating Great Blue Heron stopped for a rest on the east railing of the Hawk Tower for 5 minutes or so, even though I was standing just metres away from it. Predictions: A nice day mostly sunny skies and temperature up to 16C, but winds out of the south so probably not a good raptor migration day. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Todd Pepper ([email protected]) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/ _______________________________________________ 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/
