Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 14:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours
Official Counter: Kiah Jasper
Observers: Mike Jaber
Visitors: Thanks to Mike for helping with the count in the morning. It was nice to meet John and Elke from Toronto and bird with them for part of the morning.
Weather: Today was certainly a gusty one on the tower! The wind barraged us for the entire observation period, gusting over 50kph at times and then dying down to a "low" of around 20-25kph. I made sure all my data sheets were securely locked down, for fear of them flying to a different county. During the morning, rain accompanied the howling wind at times, forcing a retreat to the second level of the tower. Luckily that was short lived though, and by 11:00am we were in the clear. The sky remained dark and overcast for the whole morning, then began gradually clearing up after the last band of rain passed. The afternoon was the complete opposite of the morning, with an almost entirely blue save for some fluffy cumulus clouds. The temperature started off at a chilly 7C, rising to 14C by mid afternoon.
Raptor Observations: It was an extremely quiet day for raptors, though given the wind that didn't come as much of a surprise. In the morning several tettering lines of Turkey Vultures fought their way into the strong headwind, slowing making their way along the shore. The vulture flight was short lived though, and soon we were seeing 1-3 birds per hour... sometimes 0. Just after 12:30 I was scoping to the north when I picked up a Golden Eagle and a light morph Rough-legged Hawk in the same scope view... My two best birds of the day, and all at once! Weird how it goes like that. The only other highlights were singles of Merlin and Peregrine Falcon. The count was ended slightly early today due to lack of birds. A late for the season Osprey was seen hunting over the marsh just after sunrise, likely the bird from the weekend.
Non-raptor Observations: Migration seemed to be at a standstill at our site today. Raptors were barely moving, and neither were passerines or waterbirds on the lake. On the marsh dabbling ducks have greatly increased in numbers since last week, providing me with some much needed birds to count. Green-winged Teal (1,620), Gadwall (1,180) and Mallard (1,800) were particularly abundant. 210 American White Pelicans linger in the marsh, as do the 2 Common Gallinule. Also of note today was a very high number of Rusty Blackbirds (910) in the wet forest behind the tower. 64 species were observed from the tower today, for the full list see the eBird link below: https://ebird.org/checklist/S282776847
In the afternoon a single late-season Monarch flew over the tower.
Predictions: Tomorrow the wind is meant to be much lighter, though still from the west/southwest. It is also meant to be much sunnier tomorrow as well. Hopefully these conditions lead to a slightly higher count. As a sidenote, tomorrow's conditions could be productive for a finch movement along the shore. Given sightings elsewhere in Ontario, Evening Grosbeak and Redoll are on the mind. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kiah Jasper (<kiahbirder...>) Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
