Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Michael Burton-Smith
Observers: Hugh Kent, Juliette Herdman, Liz Kent, Matt Brannagan, Noel Herdman, Robin Smallwood
Visitors: Thanks to Hugh, Liz, Robin, Matt, Noel and Juliette who helped run today's count. It was great to have Emily and her very enthusiastic school group join us for a short while, even if their guest speaker (me) may have accidentally misled them a little when he said that a female Ruby-throated Hummingbird weighs five kilograms...
Weather: Strong northerly turning east-northeast in the afternoon, with moderate cloud cover and temperatures rising from the mid-teens to the early twenties.
Raptor Observations: A quiet day overall, although Sharp-shinned Hawks passed in reasonable numbers in the morning. Turkey Vultures are still at a steady trickle, it will be another week or two before they really turn on the tap and come in larger numbers. Raptor of the day (and a contender for raptor of the season) was a very endearing Merlin who spent his afternoon hunting above Trout Pond, regularly returning to a very stately perch atop the dead trees.
Blue Jay numbers are continuing to increase as they make their way south, with 5852 passing through today. Though the task of counting the jays is trauma-inducing for some, it is pretty magical to watch them stream across the sky!
Twelve species of warbler were active around the tower in the early morning, along with Ruby-crowned Kinglets who have moved in this week, a White-crowned Sparrow, and a female Indigo Bunting. We also had our first Northern Pintail and Brown Thrasher of the season, and season high counts for American Black Duck and Common Tern.
Predictions: This evening's easterlies will continue through the day tomorrow which is less favourable for the hawks than we had originally hoped, but the clear skies and mild temperatures could prove very fruitful for warblers, especially in the morning. On the raptor front, we will hopefully see another steady flow of Sharp-shinned Hawks, and if we are lucky the sunny conditions will produce nice thermals for the Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks to kettle on. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
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