Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2017
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 21355 23120 24865
Osprey 1 7 67
Bald Eagle 17 30 114
Northern Harrier 35 79 296
Sharp-shinned Hawk 442 903 2771
Cooper's Hawk 29 64 106
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 26 27 33
Broad-winged Hawk 11 12 4337
Red-tailed Hawk 139 151 188
Rough-legged Hawk 2 2 2
Golden Eagle 6 7 7
American Kestrel 31 141 1362
Merlin 4 13 68
Peregrine Falcon 1 127 156
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
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 2
Total: 22099 24683 34374
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Bob Johnstone, Tom Thomas
Observers: Chris Burris, Dave Sked, Don Taylor, Eric Single,
Ernie Gribble, Jason McGuire, Keith Sealy, Mary Carnahan,
Matt Oswald, Richard Tofflemire, Ronnie Goodhand,
Tom Stewart, Tom Thomas
Visitors:
A HUGE thanks to the whole crew that was out today to help with Bob J as
official counter along with Ernie, Matt, Don T, Eric, Chris, Mary, Ronnie,
Keith, Tom T, Dave S, Jason and Richard and Andalyne T and Roberta and Mark
B. We did have some visitors including Gina McDonnell, Mark Hawryluk and
several others whose names I didn't get.
Weather:
Wow! What a difference from yesterday...with heavier cloud cover to start
the day then breaking out to a mix of sun and cloud then finally to pure
blue skies with not a cloud in sight. Temp was quite cold to start the day
at 1C and got to a high of 10C. Winds were perfect... light to moderate
from the NW for the day.
Raptor Observations:
A fantastic day for watching raptor migration! A big flight today with a
total of 22,099 birds tallied and we got 14 of the typical species seen at
this site... missing out ONLY on Northern Goshawk!
The bulk of the flight was TVs (21,355) and this is definitely a
conservative count as there were ALWAYS TVs in the sky right from the time
they started till when the last counters left at 5:00 EDT and they were
STILL COMING! They formed some truly spectacular kettles right out to the
east of the observation knoll and at times extended right from just above
tree top height to the bottom of the clouds. These were some of the
tallest kettles we've ever observed at Hawk Cliff. It was great for the
visitors today because the TVs are so easy to see (unlike the mile high BW
kettles... lol).
Other highlights for the day... several Golden Eagles (6) including one
adult looking bird. A couple of these provided some great views and were
photographed. Also seen were Roughies (2)...1 Dark Morph that sat in a tree
to the north of observers and a Light Morph that crossed just to the south.
We had all 3 Falcon species with Am. Kestrels (31), a few Merlins (4) and a
lone Peregrine. Just a single late Osprey, several Broadwings (11), some
very nice Red-shoulders (26) including several adult birds, Redtails (139),
a good number of Bald Eagles (17) with several immature / sub-adult looking
individuals. And for Accipiters we had lots of Sharpies (442) and Cooper's
Hawk (29)... and finally N. Harriers (35) with at least 3 adult male birds.
Non-raptor Observations:
Just a TON of passerines / non-raptors on the move today as well with some
surprises... a Common Raven that flew right north above the bushlot across
the field...several warbler species... BT Green (male and female),
Nashville (that foraged ten feet from observers on the observation knoll),
Magnolia, N. Parula, Yellow-rumped, Orange-crowned and Blackpoll. Also, YB
Sapsucker, N. Flicker, Pileated, Downy, Hairy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers,
Brown Creeper, Winter Wren, GC and RC Kinglets (everywhere!),
White-throated, White-crowned, Savannah, Vesper, Song and Field Sparrows,
Hermit and Wood Thrushes, Eastern Bluebirds, Am. Robins, Am. Crows, Am.
Goldfinch, Am. Pipits, Horned Larks, Eastern Towhee, Eastern Phoebes,
Purple Finch, Common Loons, Common Grackles, Cedar Waxwings, BC Chickadees,
WB and RB Nuthatches, Tree Swallows (7), Red-eyed Vireo, Brown Thrasher,
Canada Geese, E. Starlings and N. Cardinals.
Blue Jay count: 1490
Monarch Count: 29
Green Darner
Predictions:
Pretty much back to moderate SW winds for tomorrow and in fact it looks
like the rest of at least this week. It's hard to say if there's any more
Peregrines to come though SW winds help. Otherwise, most other species will
likely be pushed inland away from the hawk watch.
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Report submitted by Dave Brown ([email protected])
Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch information may be found at:
http://www.ezlink.ca/~thebrowns/HawkCliff/index.htm
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392
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