Holiday Beach Conservation Area Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Turkey Vulture 7976 38830 41035 Osprey 0 19 53 Bald Eagle 10 77 214 Northern Harrier 8 120 348 Sharp-shinned Hawk 354 2522 7056 Cooper's Hawk 10 93 244 Northern Goshawk 2 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 77 123 162 Broad-winged Hawk 0 29 36335 Red-tailed Hawk 190 600 855 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 1 2 7 American Kestrel 10 302 1008 Merlin 0 14 61 Peregrine Falcon 0 24 42 Unknown Accipiter 1 4 19 Unknown Buteo 44 71 98 Unknown Eagle 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 4 5 Unknown Raptor 0 15 38 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Total: 8683 42853 87585 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:15:00 Total observation time: 10.25 hours Official Counter: Jenna McDermott Observers: Jim McCoy Visitors: We had 9 visitors again today, some of them frequent visitors, a few from Michigan that have come since the count began, and a few newcomers. Thanks to everyone for the extra eyes on the sky and a special thanks to Jim McCoy for very generously counting crows all day long. Weather: A cool morning with full cloud and winds up to 19km/h. As the day sped by, the cloud cover broke up, temperatures rose to 13C and the wind calmed down a bit (9km/h), making it very pleasant. Winds came from the N and NNE all day. Raptor Observations: What a grand day! We had a lot of excitement on the tower with Turkey Vultures streaming overhead from 7am until 5pm (bird time), sometimes so high that the buteos mixed in were mere specks in the sky. Mixed among the vultures were almost 200 Red-tailed Hawks, over 350 Sharp-shinned Hawks and 77 Red-shouldered Hawks, some giving great views with the sunlight peeking through the wings. Four adult Bald Eagles migrating together and playing around a little bit on the way were a wonderful break from the sometimes monotonous Turkey Vultures. We had two close looks at a juvenile Northern Goshawk, one flying quickly towards the plastic owl on the tower and the next being brought to the tower after banding for release! The icing on the cake was a Golden Eagle (imm.) at 3:50 (bird time) that popped up right in the middle of a stream of vultures off the lake. Surprise! Non-raptor Observations: There was a huge movement of American Crows today with 25360! Coming along all in the same stream at times were Blue Jays, European Starlings and over 3000 Red-winged Blackbirds. Late in the afternoon we heard the soothing call of a Common Loon from the lake and just about closing time, a large flock of 67 American Robins flew overhead, bringing their total today up to 90. See today's eBird list, only one corner of the marsh was scanned for waterfowl, but they were present in much the usual amount http://ebird.org/ebird/canada/view/checklist?subID=S20310594 Predictions: Winds from the NW all day tomorrow and blue skies, so come early to see the raptors before they get too high! There should be a nice mix again like today. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jenna McDermott (jmcde...@mail.uoguelph.ca) 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 birdalert@ontbirds.ca 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
