Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 908 1455 1455 Osprey 2 67 67 Bald Eagle 4 104 104 Northern Harrier 24 322 322 Sharp-shinned Hawk 595 4844 4844 Cooper's Hawk 8 54 54 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 3 3 Broad-winged Hawk 363 16484 16484 Red-tailed Hawk 13 103 103 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 298 1094 1094 Merlin 5 37 37 Peregrine Falcon 3 18 18 Unknown Accipiter 0 7 7 Unknown Buteo 12 26 26 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 1 2 2 Unknown Raptor 4 12 12 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Total: 2243 24633 24633 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 06:30:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10.5 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Jim McCoy Visitors: We had 13 visitors today, all being able to experience the excitement of such a great variety of raptors from the tower. Weather: It truly felt like fall today, with temperatures between 12C and 18C. Visibility was good and little miniature rainbows kept showing up in the sky. Cloud cover was almost complete in the morning and by the end of the count it was almost nonexistent. The wind blew from the north all day, on average at 18kph, but with gusts up to 30kph, making it tricky to keep a steady binocular view. Raptor Observations: The strong wind drove birds past consistently all day, contorting wing shapes, and at such speeds that you'd think even a kestrel could win the Indy500. It was a busy day with 12 species, including our first of the season Red-shouldered Hawks! An astounding number of Broadwings are also still passing through, coming by in small kettles, or mixed in with Turkey Vultures. Turkey Vultures started coming through in numbers today, and American Kestrels booted past almost constantly after the first few hours, being at times more plentiful than even Sharp-shinned Hawks. Turkey Vultures and Broadwings were often high in the sky and headed NW, presumably to avoid being stranded over the lake. Most of the other species headed straight west, and Northern Harriers stayed the lowest, hunting the marsh. Non-raptor Observations: The morning saw plentiful birds flying and feeding around the tower, including 9 species of warbler and many other unidentified warblers flying past. Red-winged Blackbirds, Cedar Waxwings, American Golfinches, 5 Chimney Swifts and 1 hummingbird passed over the marsh as well. Blue Jays were making up lost time from a low count yesterday, and got up to 21,810 by noon, at which point raptors were too busy and not much effort was put into further recording of non-raptors. 1 Monarch battled it through the high winds. See today's eBird list http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S25246695 Predictions: A cooler day with NE winds all day that will be even stronger than today's. Expect more raptors shooting past, likely a day similar to 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
