Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 16, 2014
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 0 0
Osprey 10 50 50
Bald Eagle 6 33 33
Northern Harrier 13 106 116
Sharp-shinned Hawk 202 1006 1016
Cooper's Hawk 3 22 23
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 5813 11478 11509
Red-tailed Hawk 4 19 19
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 147 540 573
Merlin 8 20 21
Peregrine Falcon 2 13 13
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 1 1
Total: 6208 13289 13375
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 15:30:00
Total observation time: 9.5 hours
Official Counter: Jennifer Lyon
Observers: Bill Read, Bob Johnstone, Chris Burris, Clive Hodder,
Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Derek Lyon, Eric Single,
Ernie Gribble, Jim Dunn, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan,
Matt Oswald, Ronnie Goodhand, Rose Braxton, Steve Birch,
Tom Stewart
Visitors:
Lots of visitors today to enjoy a great hawkwatching day! Thanks to
everyone for helping with the count...and especially Jen L. as official
counter on a day with birds all over the sky.
Weather:
Once the heavier overcast pushed off to the lake and the skies opened up
the air dried and the birds really started to move. The wind hung in from
the NW for most of the day keeping the flight down along the lake shore. It
then backed all the way round to the SW up the cliff. Temp in the sun was
quite warm and hit 17C.
Raptor Observations:
A bit humid to start the day so not much movement for the first couple of
hours. By the 3rd hour we had just a single Broadwing...but then...wow!!
the floodgates opened and by the end of the day we had a total of 6,208
raptors tallied. As expected the big part of this flight was Broadwings
(5,613). Kettle after kettle appeared to the east and north and then
streamed off to the west. The largest single group was 645 Broadwings
counted in a continuous stream across the sky.
Other species were obviously on the move today as well...including Osprey
(10) many along the cliff or just inland, a couple of immature Bald Eagles,
N. Harrier (13), a nice push of Sharpies (202), just a few Cooper's Hawks
(3), a few Redtails (4), a nice push of Kestrels (147) with a flurry of
them coming through toward the end of the afternoon, several Merlin (8) and
a couple of high Peregrines.
Non-raptor Observations:
There were some good passerines reported earlier in the morning with
woodpeckers (Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, N. Flicker and Y.B. Sapsucker),
warblers (Blackpoll, B.T. Green, Palm, Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned,
Tennessee, Black & White, Nashville, Blackburnian, Magnolia), vireos
(Red-eyed, Philadelphia, Blue-headed), flycatchers (Pewee, Least, Great
Crested), Tree Swallows, Chimney Swifts, Great Blue Herons, W.B. Nuthatch,
Common Loon, Gray Catbird, Song Sparrow, Carolina Wren, Killdeer, House
Finch and Greater Black-backed Gull. We also saw the first bit of a push of
Blue Jays with a total of 135 crossing the hawkwatch.
Monarchs were seen throughout the day with a rough count of 280 and an
Underwing Moth was also spotted.
Predictions:
Winds are forecast to be SW for Wed. so any main flight will likely be
pushed inland. Might see some birds along the cliff...especially Kestrels
and Osprey.
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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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