Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Liz Kent, Michael Arthurs, Mike Jaber, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin
Visitors: Thanks to Mike, Paul, Hugh, Liz, Noel, Juliette, Dan and Michael for helping with the count today. We were visited by; Jeff & Shana from Chatham-Kent, Bryan & Frances from Kingsville, Pedro from Portugal, Vianney and Giovanni from Mexico, Yang from LaSalle, Jake, Meredith & Nale from Ohio, Dennis from Windsor, Helen and Malcolm from Chatham, Brigitte from Amherstburg and Loreen Michael and Sue from Toronto.
Weather: The morning started off at 5 Degrees C with lots of moisture in the air, with fog holding on until after 09:30. The sky was clear blue all day, but there was a lot of haze in the air. In the afternoon the temperature rose to 20 Degrees C, quite warm for this time of year. The wind remained out of the South/Southwest/Southeast all day, at a max of 10kph. The pressure sat at 30.35
Raptor Observations: The first few hours of the count today were extremely slow, with under 10 birds per hour. It picked up after 11am, though the flightline was very far inland. Turkey Vultures were recorded in decent numbers again today (1,721), and there were small numbers of Red-tailed (76) and Red-shouldered Hawks (23) mixed in. We barely scraped by for falcons today, recording one of all three species in the afternoon. The highlight today was a light morph Rough-legged Hawks that cruised over with a few other buteos far inland.
Non-raptor Observations: American White Pelicans continue to be in seen in large numbers foraging in the marsh, with a minimum of 430 seen during the day. 986 American Goldfinch migrated over today, along with 2 Pine Siskins and 17 Purple Finches. The Greater White-fronted Goose from yesterday was seen flying over the marsh in the morning, but it didn't land and kept going inland. Other highlights included; 1 Black-crowned Night Heron, 1 Blackpoll Warbler, 2 Eastern Meadowlarks and a lingering Common Gallinule. 79 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list click this eBird link https://ebird.org/checklist/S199379495
Predictions: Tomorrow will be quite similar to today for wind (south/southwest) and the temperature will likely break 20C again. The sky is meant to be completly clear as well. It will be a fairly pleasant day for visitors to the tower, but the flight line will probably be very distant again. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (<kiahbirder...>) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
