Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 07, 2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 2 Osprey 9 14 29 Bald Eagle 0 0 0 Northern Harrier 15 44 77 Sharp-shinned Hawk 17 477 510 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 3 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 36 69 Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 3 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 21 228 326 Merlin 1 7 17 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 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: 63 809 1036 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: 1Counter, Colin Horstead Observers: Keith Sealy Visitors: The only visitors today were Janice and Amanda Barnstaple from Midland who stopped by to check out the hawkwatch and brave the weather. A big thanks to Colin H. and Keith S. for hanging in to get today's count recorded. Weather: Not the best weather today....lots of rain in the morning...tapering off to drizzle for an hour, then finally letting up at midday. Complete heavy cloud cover all day and temps ranging from 12C to a high of just 16C. The wind helped..strong from a northerly direction (NE ENE NW) for most of the day and pushing any birds that were on the move down to the lakeshore and past the hawkwatch. Raptor Observations: Even with the weather, Colin and Keith managed to tally 63 raptors...Osprey (9), Harriers (15), Sharpies (17), Kestrels (21) and a lone Merlin. The Kestrels actually were on the move in the drizzle...something we've seen in the past with Sharpies. Guess when they decide they're leaving...they're not letting a bit of rain slow them down. Note that with today's birds the season total has now exceeded 1000 birds...a very good mark for just the first week of Sept. Non-raptor Observations: Many, many passerines today...likely the result of the inclement weather forcing them to hunker down and feed as best they could. Observed species included Veery (sev), Scarlet Tanager (sev), BG Gnatcatcher, Redstarts (lots), Black and White, Parula, BC Chickadees (lots), Purple Martins (2), Cape May, Blackburnian, Great Blue (2) and a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Also, quite a number of RT Hummingbirds whizzing by ...even in the rain. A few Monarchs were observed as well. Predictions: Well...I may have jinxed the weather today ...so I'm almost afraid to make any predictions for Thursday. The GOOD - strong NE winds conitnue through to the afternoon then swinging E...and more sunny breaks The BAD - humidity is still supposed to be a bit high Probably means a smaller flight...but a good chance for more Broadwings. ======================================================================== 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 [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
