Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch
Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2023
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 3384 7587 7808
Osprey 0 3 61
Bald Eagle 6 58 192
Northern Harrier 18 120 483
Sharp-shinned Hawk 420 631 3972
Cooper's Hawk 49 68 115
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 38 41 41
Broad-winged Hawk 4 20 32319
Red-tailed Hawk 121 163 214
Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 4
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 58 530 1826
Merlin 2 12 63
Peregrine Falcon 0 25 51
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: 4102 9261 47149
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Observation start time: 06:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Tom Bolohan
Observers: Chris Burris, Dave Brown, Dave Verkley, Jason McGuire,
Ken Wootton, Ronnie Goodhand, Tom Stewart
Visitors:
Quite a few visitors to the site today and too many to list. A big thanks
to the crew that helped out today including official Counter Tom B., Dave
B., Dave V., Chris B., Tom S., Ken W., Ronnie G. and Jason M.
Weather:
A bit of an up and down day weather wise. Great winds from the N and NNW
for the day definitely helped push the birds down to the Lake Erie
shoreline. However, we went from a nice blue sky to major cloud cover in
the the first hour and then every once in a while it would break out a bit
again. It didn't help that we got a short bout of drizzle before the noon
hour and then finally a more steady drizzle came in during the last hour
and we ended the count. Temps were cooler from 7C to 10C.
Raptor Observations:
Despite the variable weather we still managed a decent count today with
4,102 birds tallied. A large part of the flight today was a near continuous
movement of TVs (3,384) BUT we also had a good flight of Sharpies (420), Am
Kestrels (58) and the first real push of the larger buteos with Redtails
(121), Red-shoulders (38) and smaller numbers of Roughlegs (2) and
Broadwings (4). Also had our first good flight of Cooper's Hawks (49) and
then a couple of Merlins and several N. Harriers (18) including a nice
adult male that passed nice and low.
Non-raptor Observations:
Another interesting day of non-raptors today including a wonderful Northern
Parula not 3m from the railing of the observation knoll at eye level and a
couple of late Tree Swallows. Also an Eastern Towhee, Gray Catbird, Wrens -
Carolina, House and Winter (photographed again today), Woodpeckers (Hairy,
Downy, N. Flicker, Red-bellied, YB Sapsucker and a fantastic male Pileated
that flew right over us barely at tree top height!), Warblers - Palm,
Yellow-rumped (lots) and others we didn't get ID'd, both Kinglets, a ton of
Bluejays, Am Robins, Cedar Waxwings, Am Pipits, Am Goldfinch, Am Crows,
Canada Geese, at least 15 Common Loons some of which passed right over us
only double tree top height, Sparrows - Song, White-throated, DE Juncos,
Eastern Phoebe, Great Blue Heron.
A highlight today were 3 Common Ravens that we watched going after every
raptor that was within their view as they were flying around out in front
of us... including a young Bald Eagle, a Redtail, a Sharpie and a Cooper's
Hawk! Some of the guys got some great action shots of them harassing these
birds.
And MONARCHS - We actually had 2 Monarchs that came past today.
Predictions:
looks like Monday will be a carbon copy of today though hopefully with NO
rain and a bit dryer air. I suspect there will be some good birds on the
move for the day.
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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:
https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=392
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