Holiday Beach Hawk Watch
Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 16, 2019
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Turkey Vulture 247 4685 53921
Osprey 0 0 36
Bald Eagle 0 38 231
Northern Harrier 32 300 757
Sharp-shinned Hawk 45 357 5325
Cooper's Hawk 18 57 294
Northern Goshawk 0 0 6
Red-shouldered Hawk 299 526 741
Broad-winged Hawk 0 6 25779
Red-tailed Hawk 2414 3633 4451
Rough-legged Hawk 6 20 20
Golden Eagle 3 16 19
American Kestrel 4 21 1731
Merlin 1 10 117
Peregrine Falcon 0 7 58
Unknown Accipiter 0 2 7
Unknown Buteo 0 12 24
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 3 7
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Total: 3069 9693 93525
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Observation start time: 07:30:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 9.5 hours
Official Counter: Maryse Gagné
Observers: Dave Martin, Jeremy Bensette, Kory Renaud, Linda Wladarski,
Paul Pratt
Visitors:
Today would not have been possible without the help of many, and many did
flock to the tower!
Big thanks to Paul Pratt and his birding group who picked the best day to
come out! Additional thanks to Kory Renaud, Dave Martin and Linda
Wladarski, John Barnes, Leon Barlows, Jim McCoy, Neil, Noel Herdman, and
Jeremy Bensette.
Weather:
Well the North-West winds definitely played in our favour today! Winds blew
quite steadily all day and we had a great mix of sun and cloud for most of
the day, apart from a few hours of full cloud cover giving us poor
lighting.
Raptor Observations:
Many words could be used to describe today; and busy doesn't quite cut it,
so I'll settle for incredible. Today was incredible, as we had our biggest
migration of Red-tailed Hawk this year, with a daily total of 2,414
Red-tailed Hawks. This would put today in third place for most Red-tails
ever recorded in one day at HBMO! Coming in second place were the
Red-shouldered Hawks with 299 individuals and Turkey Vultures at 247.
Northern Harriers, Sharp-shinned and Cooper's Hawks also had a good
showing, and a few Kestrels and a Merlin made an appearance. Six
Rough-legged Hawks (light morphs) and three Golden Eagles also graced us
with their presence. What an insanely incredible day!!
Lastly, once again approximately 14 Bald Eagles could be seen hanging out
on the ice for most of the day.
Non-raptor Observations:
A huge movement of American Crows started the day, and was continuous until
the end of the day, where we had counted approximately 15,000 Crows.
Major highlights came from a few flocks of Sandhill Cranes (daily total of
130) flew over the tower, Horned Grebes and Surf Scoters were spotted on
the lake.
A few thousand ducks out on the marsh, all put up by Eagles throughout the
day.
More passerines migrated; Bluebirds, Red-winged Blackbirds, Rusty
Blackbirds, Robins, Goldfinches, Horned Larks, and Pitpits.
Check out the full eBird list here: https://ebird.org/checklist/S61505289
Predictions:
Not sure if anything will beat today, but the raptors sure can try!
However, winds are expected to blow from the East and switch over to the
South in the afternoon with a clear blue sky.
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Report submitted by Maryse Gagné (maryse.gagn...@gmail.com)
Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://hbmo.ca/
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=100
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