Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 12, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 1 41 48 Bald Eagle 0 14 14 Northern Harrier 7 30 35 Sharp-shinned Hawk 72 526 531 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 3 61 61 Red-tailed Hawk 1 11 11 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 56 171 184 Merlin 2 9 9 Peregrine Falcon 2 3 3 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: 145 871 901 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Jim Dunn Observers: Carol Parafenko, Chris Burris, Mary Carnahan Visitors: Many thanks to Jim, Chris, Carol and Mary for today's count and help with the non-raptor sightings. Weather: A bit of a mixed bag for weather today as a strong cold front dropped across the Great Lakes region. The morning was crappy, 100% overcast; 100% humidity and no wind. Eventually, the sky cleared and the wind picked up from WNW and then NW and the birds started to move. The temp was cooler today varying from 18C to 22C and the humidity was flushed out of the area. Raptor Observations: With the less than ideal weather to start the birds were slow to get moving...but finally got going especially in the final couple of hours. Total raptors for the day...145 with mostly Sharpies (72) and Kestrels (56)...along with a single Osprey, N. Harriers (7), a lone Cooper's, a single Redtail and only a few Broadwings (3). There were a couple of Merlins that sped through and with the great lighting in the afternoon the 2 low flying and close PG,s were a real treat! Non-raptor Observations: Despite this morning's gloom and lingering humidity, songbirds were feeding here and there along Hawk Cliff Rd. observers found it a challenge to ID small songbirds given the poor lighting and quick movements in still-thick foliage, but we still managed to come up with 2 species of Vireo (Red-eyed and Philadelphia which is a new species for this season) as well as a few Warblers, notably Blackpoll which is also a new species for this season. In addition we had American Redstart, Magnolia and Blue-winged Warblers. American Goldfinches were extremely active and noisy today, with many small flocks (e.g., 10 - 12 / flock) apparently on the move. This trend was especially noticeable in the afternoon as the sky began to clear. Monarch movement was slow this morning, with only 22 counted by 11:00 AM, but this afternoon, the push was on. We saw at least 40 cross the field between 12:30 and 2:00 PM, and then suddenly observers on the knoll began to see a steady flow, too many to count in view of the sudden push of raptors across the field. Of special note, although there was no raptor count taken yesterday (Sept. 11 / 13) a Black Tern was seen flying toward Port Stanley along with a bunch of Ring-billed Gulls. Predictions: First.....the timing is good....our peak date for BWâs for the past 30 years or more has been September 16th....and we've had some amazing flights on or around that date. Friday - winds are forecast moderate N to NW....always better to push the birds down to the hawkwatch site along Lake Erie. The only downside to Friday is that itâs the FIRST day after the passage of a strong cold front....and it sometimes takes 2 or 3 days after such a front goes through before we get the massive BW flights. Saturday - winds lighter initially from the NW then to the W... BUT itâs the SECOND day after the cold front. Keep in mind that with the lighter winds the birds may not be pushed all the way down to the hawkwatch which means you might have to take a jaunt inland a bit to find the big flights. At this point Iâm also really watching the forecast for Monday...it may also bring promising wind and weather especially with the passage of a second cold front through the area Sunday night. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected]) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
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