Holiday Beach Conservation Area
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 07, 2012
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 824 2664 5366
Osprey 0 5 71
Bald Eagle 2 11 109
Northern Harrier 6 33 268
Sharp-shinned Hawk 32 558 3880
Cooper's Hawk 6 48 194
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 4 5 17
Broad-winged Hawk 0 72 6033
Red-tailed Hawk 14 65 340
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 2 4
American Kestrel 8 51 806
Merlin 1 5 57
Peregrine Falcon 1 10 35
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 8
Unknown Buteo 0 0 3
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 5
Black Vulture 0 0 1
Gyrfalcon 0 1 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 899 3530 17199
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Claude Radley, Todd Pepper
Observers: Chris Craft, Chuck Sharbaugh, Claude Radley, Frank Dolby,
Jim McCoy
Visitors:
Another relatively busy day of visitors with HBMO members Chuck Sharbough
from Michigan and Frank Dolby from Pennsylvannia; Jerry and Ann from
Toronto in for the annual Thanksgiving Day visit; another couple from
Toronto; Ken and Robert from the Brighton area of Michigan; 3 couples from
Windsor; a family of 5 from LaSalle; and half a dozen residents of the
County of Essex.
Weather:
The winds started off the morning from the NNW and shifted to SW by 11:00
EST where they stayed. The wind speed was light, mostly less than 8 km/hr
until the last hour of the count. Temperature ranged from 7C - 12C.
Essentially full cloud cover all day.
Raptor Observations:
My observations are that raptors will take high wind from a bad direction
over no wind any day, and with the low wind today almost nothing was flying
except Turkey Vultures. The day total was 889 birds of 10 species, with
TV's representing 93% of the total. Unlikely as it seemed with today's
weather we had our 4th Golden Eagle for the year at 1:38 p.m. EST.
Thanks to Claude Radley for covering the tower for an hour while I went
over to assist at the swamped passerine banding station.
Non-raptor Observations:
It was a good morning for passerine movement, although that migration too
died out when the winds shifted to the south-west. The Red-winged
Blackbirds must have read my report from yesterday as 902 were observed
today. Also had the first American Robins at 9. Other species of note
were:
Wilson's Snipe - 3
Chimney Swift - 2
Blue Jay - 7730
1 each of Red-breasted and White-breasted Nuthatch
House Finch - 9
American Goldfinch - 229.
Also had Blackpoll, Black-throated Green, and Yellow-rumped Warblers on
migration.
Predictions:
The "Weather Channel" says sunny, but then they said that for today; with
temperatures from 2C - 12C. Winds are forecasted at 15 km/hr out of the
south-west in the a.m. and up to 20 km/hr out of the south in the p.m.
The Cooper's Hawks need to start flying soon, so perhaps tomorrow.
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Report submitted by Todd Pepper ([email protected])
Holiday Beach Migration Observatory information may be found at:
http://hbmo.org/
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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/
