Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 24, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 1693 48421 Osprey 0 3 56 Bald Eagle 0 49 285 Northern Harrier 5 145 548 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 148 7772 Cooper's Hawk 0 32 318 Northern Goshawk 0 5 12 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 109 412 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 36348 Red-tailed Hawk 3 1050 2409 Rough-legged Hawk 0 17 23 Golden Eagle 0 50 76 American Kestrel 0 7 1026 Merlin 0 5 74 Peregrine Falcon 1 8 54 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 23 Unknown Buteo 0 24 224 Unknown Eagle 0 3 5 Unknown Falcon 0 1 7 Unknown Raptor 0 1 47 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 9 3351 98141 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:30:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Weather: An interesting weather day today. Starting the count got put off for a little while due to some thunderstorms and heavy rain at the tower. Bands of rain/drizzle came through for the next 2 hours and then cleared up. Shortly thereafter, wind speed picked up quite a lot, some gusts up to 55km/h. Rather than unintentionally flying off the tower along with the scope, I decided that was my cue to call it a day. The wind hovered around the SW all day. Raptor Observations: 3 Northern Harriers pushed through the rain in the first couple hours, and one "busy" hour right before the wind picked up brought the rest of the day's birds: 2 more Harriers, 3 Red-tailed Hawks and 1 Peregrine Falcon. Non-raptor Observations: Mallards were having a rough go of it today. One got picked off by a resident juvenile Bald Eagle, hauled out of one of the open patches of water in the marsh (after a lot of unsuccessful attempts where the eagle ended up sitting in the water trying to fish the duck out). Another Mallard was hesitant about flying in the high winds but seemed intent on moving farther into the marsh, so it floundered and slipped and clambered over small open puddles of water and ice until it reached the ring of land around the trout pond. Passerines were not very abundant today, though a few American Tree and Song Sparrows (one banded) were feeding around the tower and some Horned Larks and Goldfinches flew overhead. See today's eBird list http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S20661626 Predictions: Strong winds from the SW and W continuing tomorrow with a mix of sun and clouds and temperatures around freezing. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jenna McDermott ([email protected]) Holiday Beach Conservation Area information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/ _______________________________________________ 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 Posting guidelines can be found at http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdsguide
