Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 08, 2011 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 2 Osprey 10 24 39 Bald Eagle 6 6 6 Northern Harrier 5 49 82 Sharp-shinned Hawk 89 566 599 Cooper's Hawk 1 4 4 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 38 266 364 Merlin 3 10 20 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: 152 961 1188 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:00:00 Observation end time: 14:45:00 Total observation time: 8.75 hours Official Counter: Colin Horstead Observers: Jim Dunn, Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan, Wayne Parnall Visitors: Today we had a few visitors....Bob Poisson (London) and Amanda and Janice Barnstaple (Midland) who stuck around for a better flight today. Thanks to Colin H., Jim D., Mary C., Kathy, Keith S. and Wayne Parnall for recording today's count. Weather: Another interesting weaather day...very strong winds from the NE then backing to ENE slightly. Two layers of cloud....very low cloud especially at the start and much higher clouds as well. Temp ran from 16C to 21C. High humidity to start but it slowly dried out. Raptor Observations: Total raptors for the day were 152...the bulk of which were Sharpies (89), an nice showing of Osprey (10), Kestrels (38), a few Harriers (5) and Merlins (3) and a lone Coopers. Highlight today was 2 Kestrels mixing it up with a Merlin...then a Sharpie happened by and one Kestrel and the Merlin went after the Sharpie. This is the second similar interaction between Kstrels and Merlin this season....very interesting. Lots of Bald Eagles today with a total of 6 tallied as actual migrants... the rest were deemed local as they travelled west and back to the east throughout the day. Non-raptor Observations: Hawktwatchers on the mound spotted 5 Great Blue Herons this morning. As well, a Green Heron was seen flying along the Cliff east of the parking area. Observers also reported several flocks of Canada Geese, a few Cormorants, and as the day progressed, increasing numbers of Tree & Barn Swallows plus a few Purple Martins and at least one Bank Swallow hawking bugs above the tobacco field. In the trees and bushes along the road and pathways were many songbirds including Swainson's Thrush, Eastern Wood-Peewee, Red-eyed Vireo, Gray Catbirds, a Downy Woodpecker, several Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and 12 Warbler species including Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Cape May, Blackburnian, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated green, Black & White, Am. Redstart, Nashville, Wilson's Canada and Common Yellowthroat. Also noted was a Scarlet Tanager spotted by Keith S. Predictions: Unsettled weather is predicted again for Friday with possible thunderstorms...and light to moderate E winds. As long as the sky isn't socked in with rain I would think there'll be some birds on the move. However, the weekend forecast has improved and looks promising for good flights. ======================================================================== 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/
