Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1540 18873 20328 Osprey 0 14 127 Bald Eagle 20 79 194 Northern Harrier 32 161 441 Sharp-shinned Hawk 609 2022 6410 Cooper's Hawk 102 173 217 Northern Goshawk 3 5 6 Red-shouldered Hawk 460 569 576 Broad-winged Hawk 0 9 59371 Red-tailed Hawk 1256 1921 1975 Rough-legged Hawk 9 23 23 Golden Eagle 16 37 37 American Kestrel 4 125 1571 Merlin 2 11 63 Peregrine Falcon 1 77 99 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: 4054 24099 91440 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Tom Bolohan Observers: Eric Single, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan, Ronnie Goodhand Visitors: A few visitors today but didn't get any names...and a big thanks to everyone who helped with today's count....Tom B., Mary, Ronnie, Jim, Mac and Eric S. Weather: Perfect day weather wise...some sun early on with general overcast for cloud cover the rest of the count period. Temp ranged from a low of 4C to a high of 8C. Winds were excellent being moderate from the N and dropping to light from the NE. Raptor Observations: An awesome day for hawkwatching and today's numbers support that with a total of 4,054 birds! It was only a matter of time before the floodgates opened as the improvement in today's weather allowed the birds to make a run for the border and off to parts south. Today saw the first really serious push by all our usual late season migrants. First the Golden Eagles...with 16 spotted and tallied including one that was pretty much one of the last birds of the day. Then there were all the buteos kettling and soaring westward with lots of Redtails (1,256) and a superb tally of Red-shoulders (460), Also counted were Roughlegs (9). The accipiters also put on an impressive show with a significant flight of Sharpies (609) and Cooper's Hawks (102) mostly made up of adult birds as is typical at this point in the season. The real highlight was the Northern Goshawks (3) that were id as they zipped past the hawkwatch site. A decent number of Bald Eagles (20) were also tallied today along with some Northern Harriers (32)...and finally a few falcons with Kestrels (4), Merlin (2) and a lone Peregrine. Non-raptor Observations: Many songbirds flocked westward throughout the morning, mostly on a lower plane than the stream of raptors, giving a multi-tiered effect which was quite spectacular. Flocks of migrating songbirds included Crows, Starlings and mixed blackbirds (mainly Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds), Eastern Bluebirds, Robins and Pipits. Highlights from the roadside and fields included Pileated and Red-bellied woodpecker, Killdeer, both species of Kinglet, Chickadee, Goldfinch, Yellow-rumped Warblers (many), Cedar Waxwing, Song and White-throated Sparrow and a Blue-headed Vireo. ======================================================================== 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
