Holiday Beach Conservation Area
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 27, 2012
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 1147 25028 27730
Osprey 0 16 82
Bald Eagle 5 34 132
Northern Harrier 14 159 394
Sharp-shinned Hawk 74 1950 5272
Cooper's Hawk 35 337 483
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 45 248 260
Broad-winged Hawk 0 94 6055
Red-tailed Hawk 327 858 1133
Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 1
Golden Eagle 1 5 7
American Kestrel 2 166 921
Merlin 3 26 78
Peregrine Falcon 0 24 49
Unknown Accipiter 0 1 9
Unknown Buteo 0 3 6
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 2 2
Unknown Raptor 0 0 5
Black Vulture 0 0 1
Gyrfalcon 0 1 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 1 2
Total: 1654 28954 42623
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:15:00
Total observation time: 10.25 hours
Official Counter: Todd Pepper
Observers: Bob Pettit, Chris Craft, Jim McCoy, Larry Ludwicki,
Richard Carr, Steve Greidanus
Visitors:
Donna and Anne from New Jersey; Donny and Andrew from Harrow; Richard from
Leamington; Char and Mary from Michigan; a couple from Woodstock; Peter
from Texas; Peter & Astrid from Windsor; Annarita from London.
Weather:
A mostly cloudy day with temperatures that ranged from 6.5C - 11C. The
winds were moderately strong at 15 - 20 km/hr out of the north all day.
Raptor Observations:
Another day that started off slow, but when the raptors started they did
not want to quit. Turkey Vultures were still flying strong well after their
usual "sit down" time, with 401 TV's in the 4 - 5 p.m. EST hour, and
another 57 TV's from 5 - 5:15 p.m. EST. Unfortunately for those who waited
for a Golden Eagle it did not arrive until 4:49 p.m. EST (11 minutes to 6
p.m. "real" time). The other highlight of the day was our first
Rough-legged Hawk of the year, a beautiful dark morph. The day total was
1654 birds of 11 species.
Non-raptor Observations:
Blackbirds flew strongly again most of the day, however only Red-winged
Blackbirds at 1,913 birds, and Rusty Blackbirds, at 18 birds, were counted.
The other slightly larger "black" bird of American Crow clocked in at
12,662 but many more were flying far to the north of the tower. Thanks to
Gary Balkwell over at our Lake Station we were able to pick up a Common
Raven mixed in with the American Crow.
Other birds of note were: Sandhill Crane - 2; Northern Flicker - 5;
American Robin - 168; American Pipit - 9; Eastern Bluebird - 6; and
American Goldfinch - 7.
Predictions:
A sunny day with cloudy periods; temperature ranging from 5 - 10C; and,
winds out of the north at 25 - 35 km/hr. Similar conditions to Saturday, so
perhaps a few more eagles.
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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/
