Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Jeremy Bensette, Karen Padbury, Kate Derbyshire, Noel Herdman, Paul Gosselin, Peter Veighey
Visitors: Thanks to Noel, Paul, Karen, Peter, Kate, and Jeremy for helping with the spotting and counting today. We were visited by Dan from Windsor, Phil and Nancy from Sarnia, Carole and Brian from Toronto, John from Windsor, Dave, Nancy and Renee from Ohio, Andrew, Kara, George and Edmund from Harrow, Mike from Lakeshore, Jeff and Shana from Chatham-Kent, John and Natasha from Tecumseh, Norm and Kristin from Wheatley, Kelly and Dennis from Wheatley, Lou and Toni from Windsor, Kat from Michigan and Peter & Michelle from Lasalle... a busy day on the tower!
Weather: Starting off the temperature was 5 Degrees C, with a clear sky and 15kph WNW winds. We were a bit concerned with how westerly the wind was, but luckily it shifted more to the Northwest around 09:00. For the remainder of the day the wind remained out of the Northwest, sometimes quite light and others gusting to 30kph. the clear blue sky grew increasingly cloudy in the afternoon, with a max of 60% cloud cover... Ideal raptor spotting conditions. The temperature maxed out at 13 Degrees C. The barometer rose to 30.20.
Raptor Observations: Today was a fantastic day for raptors on the tower, with lots of individuals and a nice diversity of species. It started off a bit quiet in the early morning, but things started ramping up after 11:00 and continued to be good for the rest of the day. The flight was dominated by Turkey Vultures, with 3,392 recorded. The vulture flight was much closer than it has been recently, at times birds passed directly over the tower. There was a good mix of other species in with the vultures, including Bald Eagle (33), Red-tailed Hawk (176), Red-shouldered Hawk (43), Northern Harrier (22) and Sharp-shinned Hawk (175). The highlight birds by far today though were the prized northern species, Rough-legged Hawk and Golden Eagle. We recorded 21 Golden Eagles today, which is in the top ten counts of HBMO's 50 years of data. These birds were almost all immatures (one adult type), and many gave us amazing views through our scopes. At one point we even had 5 in view at once! We also counted 8 Rough-legged Hawks, including 1 beautiful dark morph bird (my favourite Ontario hawk). It was just one of those magical fall afternoons to be on the tower, the kind that only happen a few times a season.
Non-raptor Observations: 510 American White Pelican continue to be seen in the marsh, their numbers holding strong in spite on the cold weather. Morning songbird flight was also decent today, highlighted by; 1 Eastern Meadowlark, 16 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 11 American Pipit, 11 Pine Siskin, 28 Purple Finch and 25 Eastern Bluebirds. Other highlights today included; 1 Common Loom, 2 Sandhill Cranes, 1 Blackpoll Warbler and the first American Tree Sparrow of the season. 75 species were recorded from the tower today, for the full list click this eBird link - https://ebird.org/checklist/S200392321
Predictions: Tomorrow will start off colder today, near the freezing mark. The winds are predicted to be light from the Southwest and the sky clear. We will likely see less numbers than today, but it could be an alright day with a few more Golden Eagles. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (<kiahbirder...>) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
