Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 24, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 92 258 258 Osprey 2 55 55 Bald Eagle 4 71 71 Northern Harrier 9 156 156 Sharp-shinned Hawk 244 1827 1827 Cooper's Hawk 16 80 80 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 15 4988 4988 Red-tailed Hawk 3 100 100 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 2 2 American Kestrel 96 622 622 Merlin 5 33 33 Peregrine Falcon 0 18 18 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Black Vulture 0 1 1 Total: 487 8216 8216 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours Official Counter: Todd Pepper Observers: Claude Radley, Karen Padbury Visitors: Two couples from lower Northern Michigan and 2 women from Detroit, Michigan who are friends of former HBMO hawk counter Sue Trainer. A special thanks to Gary Gielczyk from the Traverse City area of Michigan who helped in spotting birds, and his wife Lisa for coffee and date cookies! Weather: A beautiful fall day with sunny skies, temperatures between 9 - 18C, winds up to 20 km/hr mostly out of the south-west. Raptor Observations: 487 birds of 14 species. The Sharp-shins and Kestrels started off strong and stayed that way most of the day. An immature Golden Eagle teased us around 1 p.m. EST by hunting over the marsh - talons out, and then almost flying over the tower. Just as it got close it dove down behind the trees east of the trout pond. Rabbit for lunch perhaps? I had just closed down the station when at approximately 3:10 p.m. EST the Golden Eagle came up from exactly where it went down and then flew west to close out a good day. Non-raptor Observations: Another big movement of Blue Jays with 9,560 birds counted between 7:00 - 8:00 a.m. EST, and a total of 14,092 for the day. Other migrants of note included: Cedar Waxwing - 30; American Goldfinch - 26; Chimney Swift - 22; American Crow - 4; Ruby-throated Hummingbird - 2; Tufted Titmouse - 2; Red-headed Woodpecker - 2. Predictions: Winds out of the south-west again, but not as strong as today. Sunny with a temperature up to 21C. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Todd Pepper ([email protected]) Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at: http://hbmo.org/ _______________________________________________ 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/

