Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 06, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 29 1644 21377
Osprey 0 0 338
Bald Eagle 2 22 245
Northern Harrier 7 69 1664
Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 141 14038
Cooper's Hawk 6 57 365
Northern Goshawk 3 16 24
Red-shouldered Hawk 28 944 1268
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 99105
Red-tailed Hawk 207 5292 6998
Rough-legged Hawk 2 12 31
Golden Eagle 5 68 115
American Kestrel 1 1 4397
Merlin 0 1 187
Peregrine Falcon 0 1 82
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: 297 8268 150234
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Dave Brown
Observers: Alf Rider, Ches Caister, Chris Burris, Don Taylor, Jim Dunn,
Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan,
Paul Thomas, Phil Waggett, Steve Thorpe
Visitors:
A ton of visitors today (40+)...certainly more than I think we've ever had
out to Hawk Cliff at this point in November! A big thanks to everyone that
hung in there till the flight got going...including the group from the OFO,
the gang of students from the University of Guelph and many others. A
special thanks to OFO leaders Pete and Ian for their kind comments and
light-hearted humour. And kudos to several of the students from Guelph who
stuck it out and got their first ever looks at Golden Eagles.
Weather:
A great looking day weatherwise...classic late fall day with intially
broken cloud...then going to nearly clear skies then nice cumulus building
in for the rest of the afternoon. Temp was just 0C to start and then
climbed to a pleasant 8C by midafternoon. Good visibility with very clear
air. Winds were a bit problematic...starting from the ENE and light then
almost dying out before we started to feel a light lake breeze from the
SW...and this effectively shut down the flight.
Raptor Observations:
Not a bad flight today with a total of 297 birds...though had the wind been
a bit more northerly earlier on the flight may well have been much larger.
Today we got quality species rather than quantity which kept the large
group of visitors happy. We had promised these visitors that if they were
willing to wait for a bit that they would be "guaranteed" to see Golden
Eagles... and the Golden Eagles (5) finally showed up just after noon (EST)
and all within the next hour. Of these, four appeared to be young birds
(i.e juvenile or immature) exhibiting very clean trailing edges to their
wings and tail and white in the underwings and across the tail deck. There
was one that appeared to be more adult looking (or at the very least a
sub-adult III) with an overall dark appearance.
Other highlights included 3 more Goshawks with 1 adult and a couple of
younger birds heavily marked...and many good views of Red-shouldered Hawks
(28) and a decent number of Redtails (207)...though many were quite high
even as they passed directly overhead. There were a couple of Roughlegs
spotted and we believe one (a dark morph) was banded. Our only falcon of
the day was a lone Kestrel.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor species on the wing at Hawk Cliff and the B&B today included
several COMMON LOONS, WOOD DUCKS, EASTERN BLUEBIRDS and mixed BLACKBIRDS
including a couple of COMMON GRACKLES. PINE SISKINS were found hanging out
with AM. GOLDFINCHES early this morning and there's many BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEES still in the area as are numerous DOWNY WOODPECKERS. A very late
cherry-faced meadowhawk dragonfly was spotted along the roadside at Sharpie
Alley.
Predictions:
Looks like nice weather for Monday but with very light winds. Tuesday is
looking better with predicted NE winds and lots of sunshine.
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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
_______________________________________________
ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial
birding organization.
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