Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 20, 2015
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 15 15 15
Osprey 8 102 106
Bald Eagle 20 39 39
Northern Harrier 26 286 291
Sharp-shinned Hawk 865 2855 2863
Cooper's Hawk 8 35 35
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 1 1
Broad-winged Hawk 2935 12879 12879
Red-tailed Hawk 18 29 29
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 119 1370 1379
Merlin 3 39 39
Peregrine Falcon 2 23 23
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
Total: 4020 17673 17699
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Jennifer Lyon, Tom Bolohan
Observers: Ches Caister, Chris Burris, Dave Brown, Derek Lyon,
Don Campbell, Ernie Gribble, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan,
Phoebe Campbell, Ronnie Goodhand, Tom Bolohan
Visitors:
A ton of visitors today and far too many helpers to mention everyone
here....but a huge thanks to all our observers and official counters for
compiling the numbers on a busy day.
Weather:
A beautiful day with high cloud cover and lots of sunshine. Temps cooler
from 7C to start and rising to just 19C after the passage of the cold
front. Winds were light from the NE and ENE.
Raptor Observations:
A great push today with a total of 4,020 birds....the bulk of which were
Broadwings (2,935) and I'm sure we missed MANY more BWs as they passed
inland out of our view (check out the numbers from the Detroit
hawkwatch!!). Other species included Sharpies (865), Kestrels (119), some
Bald Eagles (20) that were considered migrants (and many that were deemed
locals), several more Osprey (8) and Northern Harriers (26), Cooper's Hawks
(8), Merlin (3) and even a couple more Peregrines. We also had our first
Red-shouldered Hawk of the season and some actual Redtails (18) migrating.
Non-raptor Observations:
Wow...a wonderful day for migrating passerines as well with many
warblers...Nashville, Parula, Blackburnian, Tennessee, Wilson's, Redstart,
Black-throated Blue, Chestnut-sided and a nice Canada. Lots of other
species as well with Vireos...Blue-headed, Philadelphia and Red-eyed,
Sparrows...White-throated and Clay-coloured, Thrushes...Hermit,
Gray-cheeked and Swainson's along with several E. Bluebirds,
Woodpeckers...Downy, N. Flicker and YB Sapsucker, RT Hummingbirds, Am.
Pipits, a soaring Great Blue Heron, Canada geese with a single distinctly
smaller individual deemed a possible Cackling Goose and finally a small
number of Tree and Bank Swallows.
On the bug front, the predominant butterfly species noted today were
Monarch and Cabbage White. In addition observers reported Orange and
Clouded Sulphur, Red Admiral and Silver-spotted Skipper. Further, 2
Brown-hooded Owlet caterpillars were spotted on some goldenrod, right below
the mound by Cameron B. These owlets are listed as "uncommon" in our
reference guide (Carmichael & Vance, Photo Field Guide to some Caterpillars
of Southern Ontario).
Dragonflies seemed fewer today (i.e., not nearly as distracting to folks
trying to see the hawks); species noted were Black Saddlebags, Green
Darner,12-spotted Skimmer and White-faced Meadowhawk..
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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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