Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Michael Burton-Smith
Observers: Bob Hall-Brooks, Hugh Kent, Mike Jaber, Paul Gosselin
Visitors: Thanks to Hugh, Paul, Mike and Bob for helping conduct today's count, and it was lovely to be joined by Pille and Ralph. As always, it was great to chat to Emily and her third, fourth, and fifth graders - however, it was a great relief that none of them asked us to explain what the Snapping Turtles were doing!
Weather: Thunderstorms late last night meant high temperatures and humidity early in the day, and even as the day progressed it stayed warm, peaking in the mid-twenties. A slight southerly wind through the day, with minimal cloud cover in the afternoon.
Raptor Observations: Walking up the tower today, Hugh declared "at least we won't have to worry about Turkey Vultures for a couple of hours!" Twenty minutes later, Mike pointed out 105 Turkey Vultures flying overhead. Otherwise, the day went more or less as expected, with good numbers of raptors in the morning before dropping off as the day went on.
We had another strong day for Peregrines and Sharp-shinned Hawk, with Northern Harrier and American Kestrel trickling through as you would expect for mid-October. The small alarm bell is the drop off in any of our Buteo species, with Red-shoulders and Red-tails both suspiciously absent over the past week.
As projected, the clear skies early last night led to a little influx of migratory ducks and warblers, with three Tennessee's and two Nashville Warblers and notable increases in Ring-billed Duck (940), Northern Pintail (46) and Gadwall (69, including one almost white individual) on the previous day.
It was a very entertaining day for our non-bird list, with a cheeky Racoon on the marsh, a couple of White-tailed Deer bravely strutting across the hunt club lawn, a lot of Midland Painted Turtles hanging in the sun, and a nice little movement of dragonflies around midday.
The award for standout sighting has to go to our two Common Snapping Turtles, who for almost an hour-and-a-half "reinforced their marital bonds" right in front of the tower. While peak mating is between May and June, they are opportunistic breeders and have been known to breed as late as November.
Predictions: North winds overnight and clear skies until the early hours might see another little wave of ducks and passerines, and we are long overdue for something more than a White-throated Sparrow on the cracked corn!
The northerly should hold throughout the day tomorrow, meaning we should see a decent passage of Turkey Vultures and a nice diversity of our other regular raptors. Will we see our first kettle of Red-shouldered Hawks or, not to jinx it, maybe even something that rhymes with Bolden Sneagle?? ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
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