Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 1058 1058 20791
Osprey 0 0 338
Bald Eagle 16 16 239
Northern Harrier 27 27 1622
Sharp-shinned Hawk 35 35 13932
Cooper's Hawk 11 11 319
Northern Goshawk 3 3 11
Red-shouldered Hawk 615 615 939
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 99105
Red-tailed Hawk 2935 2935 4641
Rough-legged Hawk 7 7 26
Golden Eagle 40 40 87
American Kestrel 0 0 4396
Merlin 1 1 187
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 81
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: 4748 4748 146714
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:30:00
Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Clive Hodder, Dave Verkley, Dave Weare, Jan Niewiadomski,
Jim Dunn, John Potticary, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine,
Mary Carnahan, Michael Sandell, Mike Kirchin,
Ronnie Goodhand, Steve Birch
Visitors:
A few visitors today...but most of the folks onsite were observers and
counters. A huge thankyou to this group of volunteers for all the help
today...espeically with so many birds on the move and with such tough
viewing conditions.
Weather:
An absolutely perfect hawkwatching day weather-wise. Mostly sun till
midday...then lots of cloud moved in. Temp started at 1C and got to
7C....With the light winds from the NW there wasn't as much wind chill
today.
Raptor Observations:
The counters described today as a "tidal wave" of raptors...and the total
for today was 4,748. Had there been more cloud cover in the morning this
count would've been even higher as the birds would've been more visible to
the observers.
The majority of the flight today was Redtails (2,935), Shoulders (615...a
new 1-day record for Hawk Cliff) and TV's (1,058). The buteo flight was
often very high...and given there were only 35 Sharpies we suspect that
they were crossing so high they were not visible to the observers!
Other great birds today included Golden Eagles (40) with really nice looks
at some of the earlier birds that were lower when they crossed. The Golden
were a mix of youngsters to adult looking birds in the ratio of 6:1. There
was another good count of Bald Eagles (16) and a few Goshawks (3)...all
juveniles. The only falcon for the day was a lone Merlin.
Non-raptor Observations:
It was a very sunny but cold morning at Hawk Cliff with thick frost
covering the ground. Not much was stirring, except for a few WILD TURKEYS
and a highly vocal and visible PILEATED WOODPECKER and the odd CHICKADEE.
The ROBINS & STARLINGS have mostly cleared out taking the chorus of last
week with them. Ernie managed to spot a few good birds including HERMIT
THRUSH, RED-WINGED & RUSTY BLACKBIRDS and a CAROLINA WREN.
By late morning, however, the frost had "burned off" and many more species
were spotted including numerous YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS, FOX & TREE SPARROWS
(plus the usual white-throats and songs), a single COMMON GRACKLE, many
CEDAR WAXWINGS and a mob of NORTHERN CARDINALS which were foraging close
together in some sumachs right at the cliff. A few PINE SISKINS were
hanging out with the GOLDFINCHES in the cornfield at the south end of HC
Rd.
Just north of the B&B, a DOUBLE-BREASTED CORMORANT was spotted and hawk
watchers at the B&B saw more COMMON LOONS plus a GREAT BLUE HERON.
Early this afternoon, Keith and Jim had another sighting of the SHADOW
DARNER!
Predictions:
With predicted light to moderate NE winds and lots of sunshine again for
Tuesday there's a good chance of a repeat of today's flight...so if you're
interested in seeing Golden Eagles I'd be at the hawkwatch early!
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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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