Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 10:00:00 Total observation time: 2 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers:
Visitors: No visitors in the park on this wet and stormy day.
Weather: Today was a very wet and windy day around the Holiday Beach area. I arrived at the tower at 08:00 to non ideal conditions... strong Southeast wind and heavy rain. Over the next two hours these conditions remained similar, wind gusting to 40kph from the SE, heavy to moderate rain and 7 Degrees C. The pressure sat at 29.88. After looking at radar at 10:00 I saw there was a high chance of rain continuing until after 14:00, so I called it a day.
Raptor Observations: No raptors were observed besides two local Bald Eagles.
Non-raptor Observations: Despite the rain there were some birds to be seen around the tower, though viewing was quite hard as my optics kept getting covered with rain droplets. 4 species of sparrows foraged around the base of the tower, as well as some Winter Wrens and Rusty Blackbirds. A single American White Pelican was spotted out in the marsh today, as well as 5 late season Great Egrets. All of the normal ducks were seen out in the marsh, with the highlight being Ruddy Duck and Common Goldeneye. 39 species were observed from the tower today, for the full list click here - https://ebird.org/checklist/S202487139
Predictions: Tomorrow should be a better day, with higher pressure and light Northwest winds (no rain either!). The sky will likely be cloudy all day, which means we may have fewer birds moving with less thermals for them. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (<kiahbirder...>) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
