Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 09, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 4 4 4 Osprey 1 34 34 Bald Eagle 7 23 23 Northern Harrier 43 85 85 Sharp-shinned Hawk 64 123 123 Cooper's Hawk 3 7 7 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 10 10 10 Red-tailed Hawk 4 7 7 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 159 289 289 Merlin 5 9 9 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 301 592 592 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:30:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Claude Radley, Jim McCoy, Kory Renaud, Sarah Renaud Visitors: Don and Linda from Ohio made their annual visit, and Neil spent the afternoon on the tower. Mike Evans from CBC also visited to get some information on our Hawk Festival coming up this weekend. See our website for the schedule of events http://hbmo.ca/blog/hawkfest-2015-schedule-of-events/ Weather: Today was the day that the heat and humidity finally broke, thank goodness! An added bonus was a North component wind all day and some great clouds for spotting. Raptor Observations: What an outstanding day! Our first 10 Broadwings of the season migrated, high in the sky as well as our first 4 Turkey Vultures. American Kestrels came in with the highest numbers, totalling 159 with 2/3 of them streaming through constantly between 3 and 5pm. Five Merlins shot past the tower, and Northern Harriers really held their own with 43, also flying at a high altitude. A lazy Peregrine took its time gliding right overhead, giving us the falcon trifecta! Osprey, Bald Eagles, Sharpies, Coops and Red-tails also made an appearance through the day. Non-raptor Observations: There seemed to be less non-raptor movement today than there has been in the past week. Some points of interest were 5 Common Loons flying in a group over the marsh, a constant presence of Tree Swallows at a very high altitude for much of the morning, and 2 Common Nighthawks (one first thing in the morning and the other just before we packed it up). Dragonflies: There was an incredible 88 Common Green Darners that went past the tower in less than five minutes at one point around 4:30pm. Needless to say, the American Kestrels were having a feast. 2 Twelve-spotted Skimmers, 3 Black Saddlebags, and 10 other Green Darners. 4 Monarchs. See today's eBird checklist http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S24963519 Predictions: A little cooler again tomorrow with winds from the NE and E. We will likely get a few more Broadwings and hopefully much more like today! ======================================================================== 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
