Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 11, 2014
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 4245 12788 12908
Osprey 2 33 116
Bald Eagle 5 14 72
Northern Harrier 52 118 511
Sharp-shinned Hawk 635 2022 6598
Cooper's Hawk 32 69 139
Northern Goshawk 0 1 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 4 4
Broad-winged Hawk 51 131 70695
Red-tailed Hawk 140 234 260
Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 1
Golden Eagle 2 2 2
American Kestrel 98 493 2238
Merlin 5 16 58
Peregrine Falcon 3 109 154
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 1
Total: 5273 16035 93759
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Observation start time: 06:30:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: 1Counter, Dave Brown
Observers: Barb Charlton, Brett Fried, Ches Caister, Dave Verkley,
Don Taylor, Erika Hentsch, Jason McGuire, Jim Dunn,
Keith Sealy, Mac McAlpine, Mary Carnahan, Paul Thomas,
Ronnie Goodhand, Tom Stewart
Visitors:
A ton of visitors to the site today. Thanks to Brett, Erika and Barb for
their help with the count and many of today's passerine ids along with the
large crew of our regular volunteers for their assistance on a busy count
day! And thanks to Jason M., Brian T., Tim A., Mike M. and Hans V. for
sticking with me right to the very end of the down flight and the chance to
enjoy several end of the day low flying N. Harriers including 2 males,
several young Broadwings and Redtails. :)
Weather:
Ahh...the glorious hawkwatching days of October! Pretty much the perfect
combination of NW winds and bright blue skies to start the day got the
thermals set up and by late morning we had some nice cumulus clouds
building above the hawkwatch. Winds actually increased more than had been
predicted which worked in our favour as it brought the birds nicely down to
the lake shore and over the observation knoll more often than not. The
starting temp was quite cool at 5C after low overnight temps...and the high
got to just 11C. The cloud cover never exceeded 40%.
Raptor Observations:
An all round great day of raptor migration with a total of 5,273 birds
tallied. Once again the bulk were TVs (4,245)....but we had 13 out of the
typical 14 raptor species missing only on Northern Goshawk. This is why
October is THE month to get out to the hawkwatch. The height of the flight
was quite variable with birds observed all over the sky and at multiple
levels as they streamed through.
Sharpies (635) started strong and put in a constant showing all day while
the Cooper's Hawks (32) made it obvious they've started to move as well. On
the buteo front the Redtails (140) were obviously heading to warmer climes
and it was noted that a large percentage of today's flight were youngsters.
As expected, a few ore Red-shouldered Hawks (2) were seen with one an adult
bird. One of the surprising species counts for today were late Broad-winged
Hawks (51) again with many young birds and some very low providing nice
looks. The biggest surprise of the day was a light morph Rough-legged
Hawk...and even more of a surprise was that it was spotted flying right
along the cliff!
Only a couple of Ospreyd passed by but Northern Harrriers (52) were spotted
throughtout the count period with a good chunk of today's count coming
through in the last couple of hours. Not to be outdone, we continued to see
many falcons with Kestrels (98), Merlins (5) and yes a few more Peregrines
(3) bring our total for "P" birds to 154.
Non-raptor Observations:
Lots of visitors to the site today were hopeful of relocating yesterday's
Townsend's Solitaire but as far as we know it was not relocated.
A bit of a surprise was a small flock of Tundra Swans (14) to the north and
headed eastward looking brilliant in the bright sunlight..along with a
single swan (can only say it wasn't a Mute) headed eastward right along the
cliff. Mary reported Ruddy ducks (4) on the lake below the cliff...and
there were flyovers of several Common Loons and a single Common Merganser.
She alos spotted a small flock of Lesser Yellowlegs on the shoreline and a
single Greater Yellowlegs was heard as it passed over head. Lots of Blue
Jays again today with some Am. Crows on the move and several blackbird
flocks including what looked to be a small flock of Rusty Blackbirds (10).
Gulls included Bonaparte, Herring and Ring-billed. Other
species...Red-bellied Woodpecker, N. Flicker, Brown creeper, Golden and
Ruby crowned Kinglets (lots), Tufted titmouse (2) right in the trees and
shrubs beside the counters (very nice), Carolina and Winter Rwens, Red and
White breasted Nuthatches, a late Barn Swallow and several Tree Swallows,
E. Bluebirds, Hermit Thrushes, Gray Catbirds, several flocks of Pine
Siskins, Am. Goldfinches and Cedar Waxwings. Quite a few warblers around
but most were Yellow-rumps, with Blackpoll, Orange-crowned, Black-throated
Blue and Palm, White-throated and Swamp sparrowsand Dark-eyed junco.
Predictions:
Winds are predicted to start light from the E on Sunday under clear blue
skies...so a flight may get going in the morning. Unfortunately, the wind
is forecast to back round to the SE which is the worst direction for good
flights at the hawkwatch...blowing migrants back inland away from the lake
shore.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown (thebro...@ezlink.on.ca)
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
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