Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 6 6 1461 Osprey 1 1 114 Bald Eagle 0 0 115 Northern Harrier 1 1 281 Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 7 4395 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 44 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 7 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 59362 Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 54 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 9 9 1455 Merlin 1 1 53 Peregrine Falcon 10 10 32 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 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 2 Total: 35 35 67376 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:45:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8.25 hours Official Counter: Matt Oswald Observers: Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan Visitors: There were a few visitors today. Thanks to Matt for getting there early today to start the count...and to Jim, Mary, Mac and Keith for helping for the rest of the day. Weather: Despite that fact that there was a lot of fog around most of southwestern Ontario...skies at the hawkwatch were actually clear. Winds were near non-existent to start the morning but eventually strengthened to moderate from the SW...always a promising direction for Peregrine prime time. Temp got to a high of 24C. Raptor Observations: Today's flight was more quality than quantity...with just 35 birds total...of which 10 were Peregrines. The Peregrines all flew past pretty much right above the cliff edge. The first 4 passed by in the hour from 11-12 (EST)...at 11:10, 11:13, 11:18 and 11:45 and all appeared to be young birds. The next hour saw 2 more cruise through, one at 12:20 and another at 12:30 and again they appeared to be young birds. There were 2 more tallied at 1:10 and 1:15 and the second one looked to be an adult bird that actually angled in from the cliff towards the observation knoll providing great looks for the counters. The final 2 were counted in the last hour just before 3:00 EST...another adult and a younger bird. Other raptors counted today included singles of Osprey, N. Harrier and Merlin, Sharpies (7) and Kestrels (9). Other birds on the move today were Turkey Vultures (6). Non-raptor Observations: For several days in a row, observers and visitors have found many songbirds near Sharpie Alley, but today, there were many songbirds in all locations. This observer began at the Alley, moved north to the ravine and back which yielded 10 Warbler species (Magnolia, Black-throated Blue, Yellow-rumped, Palm, Black-throated Green, Bay-breasted, Blackpoll, American Redstart, Nashville, and Common Yellowthroat), 4 Woodpeckers (Red-bellied and Pileated Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Northern Flicker), a Brown Thrasher, both species of Kinglet, Red-eyed, Philadelphia and Blue-headed Vireo, Gray Catbird, Song and White-throated Sparrow, American Goldfinch and a Killdeer flying overhead. Flocks of Bluejays and a small flock of Eastern Bluebirds were seen flying overhead. At the same time, observers at the mound were seeing most of the same species in their immediate area and eventually added Downy Woodpecker, Chickadees, 3 Brown Creepers, White-breasted Nuthatch, 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, the usual Ring-billed and Herring Gulls, Canada Geese and 3 Cormorants. A Field Sparrow was seen along the road at the north end of the ravine which brought our sparrow species to 3 for the day and flocks of American Crow were seen intermittently, not obvoiusly going anywhere, just around. The total number of Bluejays for the morning was 4070. Other non-raptor sightings included 2 young White-tailed Deer in the field early in the morning, fairly steady Monarch movement along the cliff throughout the morning, a Mourning Cloak, several Cabbage Whites plus Orange and Clouded Sulphurs and many dragonflies, mostly Black Saddlebags, some Green Darners and Meadowhawks which were found in the fields. Predictions: The predicted winds are from the W which may stem any movement for the day...and the rest of the week is looking wet. It may be a few days before any sort of significant raptor migration. ======================================================================== 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 including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
