Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 29, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 10 17 17 Bald Eagle 10 13 13 Northern Harrier 14 49 49 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 6 6 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 137 174 174 Red-tailed Hawk 2 2 2 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 32 159 159 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 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: 207 423 423 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Matt Oswald Observers: BJ, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan Visitors: Thanks to Matt, Jim, Mary, Keith and BJ for hanging out at the hawkwatch and getting today's count done. Weather: Another nice day for hakwatching with sun and some cloud. Temp to a high of 22C. Winds were moderate from the NE then letting up midday and swinging all the way around to the SW with the wind picking up a bit in the last hour. Raptor Observations: Another really good count for today....with a total of 207 birds tallied...including Osprey (10), Bald Eagle (10 - all quite high and moving west in a hurry), another good number of N. Harrier (14), Sharpies (2), an excellent count of Broadwings (137), Redtails (2 - again flying quite high and headed directly west) and Kestrels (32). Once again flight heights varied from "on the deck" at the start of the day to well up "in the stratosphere" by mid-morning. Some Bald Eagles and Redtails were counted today because they appeared to be migrating and not just moving within the local area. Non-raptor Observations: Non-raptor avian hightlights today included our first sighting of Nighthawk for this season. Other new species for this fall season were 2 Veery and 1 Swainson's Thrush, all seen from the road, and a sighting we don't have every day...a single Carolina Wren. A number of warbler sightings were reported including more Wilson's, Chestnut-sided, Magnolia, Black & White and Am. Redstart, but did not increase our species count which remains at 16. Along with the warblers were many Red-eyed Vireos in all the best songbird spots from south to north as far as the ravine. It was interesting to note that many were young vireos, and an observer spotted one adult red-eyed vireo feeding young. Numerous Flycatcher species were found in the same areas, including many Kingbirds moving through in what seemed to be families. A couple of Eastern Wood-peewee were spotted as well as several Traill's one of which was most likely an Alder Flycatcher. Downy Woodpeckers were also found in most songbird locations from the pond path to the woods; both Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatches were also seen particularly near the mound; many Swallows were seen from the mound throughout the day including Bank, Barn, Tree and Northern Rough-winged. Non-avian highlights today were 3 White-tailed Deer, including a little fawn. Also a Fox was seen sneaking into the corn field from the parking area. Predictions: With predicted SW winds for Thursday...there's a chance you might see Osprey and Kestrels moving along the cliff edge as they take advantage of the updraft created by the wind pushing up the cliff face. ======================================================================== 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/
