Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Dec 09, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 2 24905 Osprey 0 0 124 Bald Eagle 0 2 181 Northern Harrier 0 3 1031 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 1 8398 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 231 Northern Goshawk 0 1 8 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 365 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 13000 Red-tailed Hawk 1 10 3112 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 13 Golden Eagle 0 4 85 American Kestrel 0 0 1937 Merlin 0 0 93 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 76 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: 1 29 53559 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 2 hours Official Counter: Mary Carnahan Observers: Keith Sealy Visitors: No visitors today. Weather: The day started out with some welcome sunshine following several days of fog / cloud mix -- what a lift! Winds were fairly strong (18 kph) from the SSE, which is about the worst wind for rapator migration through Hawk Cliff, but the temperature was 9 C by noon, so a nice day for a stroll down Hawk Cliff Rd. Unfortunately, the wind was picking up by then and the sky had rapidly filled with thick, dark clouds. If it had been 10 degrees colder, we would have called them snow clouds. Raptor Observations: Those SSE winds were really blowing along the cliff and there were few birds of any species flying plus absolutely no raptors, as expected. We moved to our northern location at Yarmouth Ridge and immediately spotted 3 Red-tails -- we may get a count today after all! The Red-tailed Hawks seemed to be crossing the ridge, but there was a huge flock of crows seemingly on all sides, a couple were attacking least one of the Red-tails --it was quite a melee. At one point, it became clear that 2 of the Red-tails were now fighting with each other, taking dives at each other, then flying along side by sside. In any case, the Red-tails were making absolutely no headway at getting across the road, so were not moving west. Instead, once the crows left, the Red-tails began (or perhaps went back to) kiting off the south edge of the ridge. Finally 2 of them flew off to the SE. Okay, not countable. In the meantime, a TV raised hopes by crossing the ridge from east to west, then across the road -- 1 for our side! A few minutes later, a TV flew back along the same route it had taken westward. Not one for our side after all. This guy flew back and forth, tantalizingly several times, but eventually kept going towards the east. Looks like he's taken up residence in this neighbourhood, temporarily or perhaps for the winter. Finally, at the beginning of the second hour, a Red-tailed Hawk flew west along the treeline, crossed the road and kept on going. Then nothing else happened, except the TV could be seen flying back and forth off to the east over a local pond and woods. Thus, our total for today was 1 Red-tailed Hawk. Non-raptor Observations: The songbids were subdued this morning, or more likley just trying to remain sheltered from the wind. Very few species were found and then, only one or two of each. The nice find of the day was a singing Eastern Towhee, but we also had 2 Eastern Bluebirds, a pair of Northern Cardinals, 3 Am. Crows at the Cliff and lots more at the Ridge, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Am. Goldfinch, Dark-eyed Junco, Am. Tree Sparrow, a single E. Starling, Blue Jays, Ring-billed Gull, House Sparrow and Rock Pigeons. Predictions: Tomorrow wind will be mainly from the South. Temp will be 5 to start, rising to 10 C. Little to no sunshine is expected. Southerly flow will continue at least through the weekend, with some rain developing on Saturday or Sunday. Back to fog on Sunday / Monday. Not looking good. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Mary Carnahan ([email protected]) Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at: http://www.ezlink.on.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm _______________________________________________ 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
