Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Michael Burton-Smith
Observers: Chad Cornish, Chip Ogglesby, Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Karen Padbury, Kitty Bradshaw, Noel Herdman, Olga Klekner, Peter Veighey, Wade Carlton
Visitors: Thanks to our counters Hugh, Chad, Chip, Noel, Juliette, Kitty, Wade, Olga, Karen and Peter who helped manage the chaos on the tower and kindly donated their clicker fingers to the cause! We also had plenty of visitors on the tower throughout the day, many of whom had jumped out of bed this morning after seeing the forecast of a north wind - we were not disappointed!
Weather: Overcast conditions, with 100% cloud cover but no fog or haze so good visibility throughout the day. Winds from the north, occasionally strong gusts particularly in the late afternoon. Temperatures in the mid-teens throughout the day.
Raptor Observations: Once again, two days of rain in the midst of Broad-winged Hawk migration stopped the birds in their tracks, and they were eager in their thousands to take advantage of today's dry conditions. The strong northerly wind made flying difficult, and the raptors were condensed low and along the northern shores of Lake Erie, giving great viewing conditions for all of us on the tower, although simultaneously making counting harder with birds buffeted back and forth by the strong winds.
It was another record breaking day on the tower, with our fifth highest ever day tally for Northern Harrier (125), and our sixth highest single-day tally of Broad-winged Hawk (42,732). This pushes the season tally for Broad-winged Hawk over 100,000. The peak hours were between 0900 and 1100 EST, when 34,431 birds moved through in just two hours, including two massive flocks of 4900 and 4800 individuals.
We also had sizeable movements of Sharp-shinned Hawk (1239) and American Kestrel (266), and another early cluster of Turkey Vulture (710).
Ominously for our counting crew, the morning count was soundtracked by 729 migrating Blue Jays, our first major movement of this species for the year. Is another one-million-blue-jay-season approaching??
A relatively quiet day otherwise. Most notable was an influx of 111 American White Pelicans, our highest count of the season to date. These have moved in to take advantage of the new surface area on the marsh that has been exposed by the retreating lilies. Hopefully we will see numbers continue to grow in the coming week. We also had a season first for the tower with a female Lesser Scaup observed on the lake. Cold conditions have seen a serious decline in insect activity, with just sixteen monarchs and no dragonflies through the day.
Predictions: Similar weather conditions are expected tomorrow, with strong northerly winds and heavy cloud cover. Heavy cloud cover through the night and strong northerly winds will likely dampen any passerine activity around the tower, and while we would expect more Broad-winged and Sharp-shinned Hawks, there will likely not be the same backlog as we had today. That being said, the cloud cover and winds will continue to push birds right over the tower, meaning good opportunities to view migrating raptors at comparatively close range in the early to mid-morning. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
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