Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2011
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 2770 2770 2928
Osprey 16 16 159
Bald Eagle 18 18 117
Northern Harrier 227 227 713
Sharp-shinned Hawk 2227 2227 7476
Cooper's Hawk 41 41 90
Northern Goshawk 1 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 8 8 8
Broad-winged Hawk 564 564 72820
Red-tailed Hawk 30 30 54
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 1 1
American Kestrel 1616 1616 4338
Merlin 36 36 94
Peregrine Falcon 6 6 29
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
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 7561 7561 88829
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 11 hours
Official Counter: Colin Horstead
Observers: Bill Reid, Ches Caister, Chris Burris, Dave Brown,
Dave Verkley, Don Campbell, Don Taylor, Eric Single,
Jason McGuire, Jim Dunn, Kathy, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine,
Mark Cunningham, Phoebe Campbell, Ronnie Goodhand,
Wayne Parnall
Visitors:
Apologies for the late posting for this Oct 1st count...blame my router and
a busy schedule!
Lots of visitors today (though didn't get a lot of names)...but I have to
thank all the observers and counters on a very busy day...Colin, Jim,
Keith, Ronnie, Mac, Eric S., Don and Phoebe C., Don T., Dave B., Ches, Dave
V., Marguerite I., Chris B., Mark C., Jason, Wayne, Kathy, Ian P. and Joan
T., Anne B., Carol and Winston (Hopefully I didn't miss anyone).
Weather:
What started as a day with low socked in skies and cold turned into one of
the best hawkwatching days we've seen in quite some time...at least for
species variety and a LOW flight level. Winds were as predicted, very
strong from the N which not only drives the maximum number of raptors right
to the lake shore, but forces them low as they try and work their way
westward. We had Broadwings (hundreds of them) crossing over our heads just
above treetop) affording great views and keeping the photographers happy
(though lighting was still poor).
The temp ws quite cool from a chilling 5C to start (and colder with the
windchill) to a high of just 13C. There's little doubt that after 5 days of
rotten weather, the birds decided it was time to get outta Dodge!!
Eventually the slikes opened right up and we lost our cloud altogether
which made the birds more difficult to spot.
Raptor Observations:
Wow! What else to say about such a spectacular flight. The total raptors
tallied for the day was 7,561.
The real surprise was setting a new 1-DAY record for Kestrels...an
astounding 1,616...easily surpassing the old record of 1,187. We also set a
new 1-HOUR record (twice) with 265 tallied from 8-9 EST..and then again the
next hour with 300 from 9-10 EST. There were Kestrels passing by pretty
much every minute of the day right from the get-go...2, 3 or 4 at a time
from the cliff right up north to Sharpie Alley at the end of the field.
The Sharpies were flooding through as well at Sharpie Alley with
2,227...again pretty much continuous for the entire count period and many
right on the deck. Several times the counters had Sharpies pass mere feet
above their heads! Harriers also had a very good flight today (finally)
with 227...though short of the current 1-DAY record of 252. A Golden Eagle
was also tallied...another first for the season (thanks Don T and Bill R
for that one!).
There were lots of other species as well with TV's (2.770), Osprey (16),
Bald Eagle (18), Cooper's (41), the first Goshawk of the season, the first
Red-shouldered Hawks this year (8), some lagging BW's (564), Redtails
finally starting to move (30), Merlin (36) and Peregrine (6).
Non-raptor Observations:
As if not to let the raptors rule the day...the movement of passerines
through the Hawk Cliff area was fantastic as well! There were warblers
everwhere...and it was not surprising to find 20 or 30 at a time in a
single tree or shrub...and all around the observers and counters. Total
warbler species seen today was 16 including Tennessee, Nashville, N.
Parula, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Cape May, Blackburnian, BT Blue, BT
Green, Yellow-rumped, Palm, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, Black & white, Am.
Redstart and C. Yellowthroat.
The real non-raptor highlight were 2 groups of cranes that passed the
hawkwatch and headed out directly across the lake...one consisted of 5
Sandhills...but the other was a pair of PURE WHITE cranes with black on the
wings...almost certainly had to be a pair of WHOOPING CRANES! They were
originally spotted by Ian Platt and Joan Taylor (London) observing with us
on the knoll...and then watched for a minute or more as they crossed just
east of hawkwatch site at a few hundred feet height...eventually
disappearing out of sight across the lake at about 3:30 EDT.
Other passerines of note...a lone Scarlet Tanager that lit on a branch
right beside the knoll...a Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker,
E. Phoebe, E. Towhee, at least 20 Flickers and an unidentified empid. sp.
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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.
Send bird reports to [email protected]
For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
