Holiday Beach Conservation Area
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 30, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 925 32712 33792
Osprey 0 25 133
Bald Eagle 2 48 145
Northern Harrier 20 292 629
Sharp-shinned Hawk 51 3640 9255
Cooper's Hawk 3 305 405
Northern Goshawk 1 5 5
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 184 185
Broad-winged Hawk 0 651 16133
Red-tailed Hawk 6 778 966
Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 3
Golden Eagle 0 8 8
American Kestrel 4 344 1445
Merlin 15 43 116
Peregrine Falcon 3 25 50
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: 1030 39075 63287
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Todd Pepper
Observers: Bob Pettit, Jim McCoy, Larry Ludwicki, Len Jones,
Steve Greidanus
Visitors:
9 students from the 3rd year biology class of the University of Windsor
including: Vishal Vara; Yara Mazhar; Eleni Kidani; Abdul Nitish; Kirithika
Raju; Emily John; Aman Jande, Hasaan Chaudhry and Jaskaran Takhan. Regular
visitor Len Jones, and 4 couples at the end of the day that stayed for
approximately an hour, 1 couple from Kingsville and the other 3 couples
from London, Ontario.
Weather:
A cold, blustery day with temperatures ranging from 7.5 -14C, winds up to
35kmph out of the SW or SSW, mostly cloudy and limited visibility.
Raptor Observations:
1030 raptors of 10 species. The number of Merlins (15) set a new record for
October since the beginning of recording raptor migration at Holiday Beach
and the 2nd highest record ever for Merlins, with the record at 16 birds on
September 20, 2005. Also a beautiful male Northern Goshawk, my first for
the year and the 5th for HBMO for the year. An unusual observation was that
all 5 adult Red-tailed Hawks behaved like Northern Harriers coming out of
the woods north of the trout pond and then flying across the marsh about a
metre above the water. Only the immature Red-tail behaved normally kettling
up high and then flying west along the northern tree line.
Non-raptor Observations:
Two small groups of Tundra Swans totalling 19 birds; 2 Common Loon; 1
Wilson's Snipe; 6 Lesser Yellowlegs; 1 Northern Flicker; 1 Eastern
Bluebird; 60 American Robins; 2,664 Am. Crows; the usual clouds of
Starlings; flocks of Red-winged Blackbirds, but fewer numbers than
yesterday. Species noted but not counted included: Black-capped Chickadee;
Yellow-rumped Warbler, White-throated Sparrow; House Sparrow; American
Goldfinch; Purple Finch.
Predictions:
Mostly sunny, high of 10C, winds NNW at 12 - 20kmph, could be a good Golden
Eagle day. We are due for one.
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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.
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