Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 8.5 hours
Official Counter: Michael Burton-Smith
Observers: Hugh Kent, Jaron Wilkinson, Liz Kent, Mike Jaber, Paul Gosselin, Robin Smallwood
Visitors: It was an amazing Labor Day up on the tower, with many volunteers and visitors coming from right across Ontario and Michigan to help us!
A special thanks to our assistant counters - Hugh, Liz, Mike, Paul, Jaron, Robin, Bella and Dan - who ensured there were eyes on the sky at all times.
It was great to have so many visitors across the day, including Corrie, Mark, Jordan, Garrett, Paddy, Richard and Steve (sorry to those whose name I have missed!). It was a really pleasant day with plenty of laughter, bird stories, and some brilliant photos taken up on the tower
Weather: Slight northerlies in the morning, changing to a south-easterly in the mid-afternoon. Temperatures relatively stable in the low to mid-twenties.
Raptor Observations: A fairly steady day, with some raptors observed in every hour but no particularly large congregations. The Sharp-shinneds were, as expected, the biggest movers of the day and totalled roughly a third of all raptors seen. The best raptor of the day was certainly a juvenile Peregrine who spooked the cormorant roost and then perched nicely for several minutes in the early morning.
The morning started with so much promise with ten species of warbler within the first half hour, but as the heat began to climb bird activity on the ground dwindled. Along with the first Black-throated Green and Blackpoll Warblers of the season, we also had our first records of Swainson's Thrush, Indigo Bunting, Eastern Phoebe and American White Pelicans. Unfortunately the pelicans did not come in to feed; this likely won't happen until the water lilies die back later in the month.
Bird of the day was undoubtedly a massive female Common Snapping Turtle spotted by Jaron among the reeds.
We also had a sizeable number of Monarchs (54) and our first Common Green Darner (2) flying over the marsh.
Predictions: The forecast for the coming week is not too hot for migrating raptors, with easterlies turning to southerlies through to tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the strong southerlies overnight bring in some migratory warblers looking to refuel before catching a more favourable northerly, and that in spite of the winds we continue to get steady numbers of Sharp-shinned and Broad-winged Hawks. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
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