Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 0 547 547 Osprey 0 65 65 Bald Eagle 0 100 100 Northern Harrier 2 298 298 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 4249 4249 Cooper's Hawk 1 46 46 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 16121 16121 Red-tailed Hawk 0 90 90 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 796 796 Merlin 0 32 32 Peregrine Falcon 0 15 15 Unknown Accipiter 0 7 7 Unknown Buteo 0 14 14 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Raptor 0 8 8 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 8 22390 22390 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Visitors: Two elementary school groups from Tecumseh visited the tower, led by ERCA. Weather: The full cloud cover of the morning brought drizzle and rain off and on after 9am. Visibility was low and decreased as the day drizzled by. Wind was virtually nonexistent much of the morning, but at times came from the south, then west, then ESE, then north. After the arrival of a decidedly stormy looking cloud, increased rain, wind gusts up to 30kpm, and a quick look at the radar, the count was concluded for the day. Raptor Observations: We can consider this a good practice day for November, with 8 birds total. The 2 Northern Harriers, 5 Sharpies and 1 Cooper's Hawk did all stay quite low and close to the tower, and popped up when least expected, often during the rain, not the dry spells in between. An Osprey also flew across the marsh, but from west to east. Non-raptor Observations: Everything seemed hesitant to cross the marsh, and hundreds of Blue Jays turned around and came back to the east at a time. They eventually made it to 4860 birds before they stopped flying at 11am. Other birds that migrated past the tower were 60 starlings, 32 Cedar Waxwings, and 21 Red-winged Blackbirds. A surprise was one Rusty Blackbird that perched in a tree by the tower for a few minutes. American Goldfinches didn't seem to mind the rain today and flew in small groups, reaching 203. Just after noon, in a lull after some drizzle, a small group of passerines appeared around the tower, including a Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Common Yellowthroat, 2 Magnolia Warblers, a Black-throated Blue Warbler, and a Wilson's Warbler. 4 Gray Catbirds also took advantage of the wet leaves and had bath time. 4 Monarchs. See today's eBird list http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S25232418 Predictions: No chance of rain tomorrow and a NE wind will hopefully bring a flurry of birds that got stopped up today by the weather. ======================================================================== 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
