Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 03, 2012 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 995 1259 24148 Osprey 0 0 193 Bald Eagle 16 19 201 Northern Harrier 13 18 714 Sharp-shinned Hawk 119 139 7952 Cooper's Hawk 35 43 224 Northern Goshawk 4 6 10 Red-shouldered Hawk 219 235 379 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 37168 Red-tailed Hawk 2084 2250 3587 Rough-legged Hawk 3 3 10 Golden Eagle 51 60 66 American Kestrel 5 6 2927 Merlin 0 0 80 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 117 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: 3544 4038 77776 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Chris Burris, Colin Horstead, Dave Brown, Tom Thomas Observers: Visitors: Between the 25 on the OFO outing and a camera club group and so on...I'd say there were at least 60+ people at the hawkwatch. A big thanks to today's counters and those who helped spot the birds. I'm afraid I didn't manage to get all the volunteers listed on this report (I've only included the individuals who were counters) but my thanks to all of you. ;) Weather: A fantastic day at Hawk Cliff today...started with blue skies and lots of sun and ended with lots of cloud...but happily no rain. Temp never surpassed 5C and it felt colder as the wind picked up...initially from the NW and then N. Raptor Observations: Total birds today was 3,544...with the most dominant species...Redtails (2,084)...wow!! As Pete indicated in his great OFO TRIP report the flight never stopped....right up till we called it quits for the day. Other species observed included TVs (995), Bald Eagle (16), N. Harrier (13 - this species was missing in action today given it was such good migration weather), Sharpies (116), nice flight of Coops (35) and Kestrels (5) the only falcon species seen today. Now for the highlights....enjoyed by the MANY visitors at the hawkwatch....it was a rich spectacular of Golden Eagles with a total of 51 of these incredible birds passing by...many "ON THE DECK" and a fe at fairly high altitude. Aging GEs in flight is a near impossible task even with a good scope...but a rough judgement would be about 1/5 were Adult looking birds...another 1/5 were probable Juvies and the rest were a mix of Immatures of various ages. Pete R. also mentioned a DARK REDTAIL which he spotted (way to go Pete!)...and it gave lots of time to study it as it circled over the field in front of us at Sharpie Alley. The bird appeared to be a Juvie with nice fine banding in the tail (both dorsal and underside) and solid dark brown overall head..body...throat...and some speckling in the underwing coverts). Awesome bird...with many photos taken. And finally...we tallied 4 Northern Goshawks...all low and moving quickly past the hawkwatch...and all youngsters. Non-raptor Observations: Most visitors got to see the lone Evening Grosbeak right at Sharpie Alley...and as mentioned in the OFO report there were other flocks of Evening Grosbeak that passed overhead. Please have a look at the OFO report for other non-raptor species seen (sorry...but I'm having to type this on my cell which is proving difficult!). Predictions: Given Mike W's report of 12 GOLDENS at Iroquois...and predicted sun and cloud and northerly winds for Sunday....I'd bet that it'll be another "GOLDEN" day! ======================================================================== 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/
