Visitors: Kiah deserves a gold medal after coping with my hot chocolate withdrawals this morning, a recently discovered illness that is particularly lethal for official hawk counters. Thanks to Hugh, Liz, Chip and Robin for helping conduct the day's count, and it was lovely to be visited by Toni, Lou, Jim, Mary-Sue and Bob.
Weather: It was like a game of strip poker as each volunteer climbed the tower, with shed winter layers decorating the deck around us. Temperatures started a bit brisk with a nip in the breeze but as the sun broke through the clouds it warmed into the mid-teens and the westerly winds turned to the south and weakened.
Raptor Observations: A relatively uneventful day, although a late push for Sharp-shinned Hawk and a male American Kestrel were a pleasant reminder of days gone by. Its interesting to see how raptor activity has changed with the shift in daylight and temperatures, with the peak flight now closer to midday without a post-lunchtime rush.
The headline of the day is Kiah's brief sighting of an American Bittern flying low into the cattails on the northern edge of the marsh - our first for the season and species number 193!
Last night's clear skies caused a seismic shift in waterfowl, with our Ruddy Duck and Tundra Swan flocks departing along with over 400 Ring-necked Ducks. In contrast, Northern Pintail saw dramatic increases on the previous day, nearly doubling to a season high of 472 - the second highest count for this species in HBMO history. We also had our first-of-the-season Boreal Canada Goose, a smaller subspecies which is only seen at Holiday Beach on migration.
Away from the ducks, overhead passerine migration kept us busy, with our season high total for American Goldfinch (1543), as well as several hundred American Pipit, Horned Lark, Cedar Waxwing and American Robin, and smaller numbers of Pine Siskin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Lapland Longspur and Snow Bunting. A bird on Gallinule Log gave us brief hope that our beloved teenagers had returned but, alas, t'was just another coot :'(
Predictions: Some gentle northerlies overnight may cause a little more turnover on the marsh and for songbirds in the park. During the day, changeable winds and cloud cover will likely dampen any raptor migration, but southeasterly winds and no haze could bring perfect conditions to finally add Surf Scoter to Kiah's tower list. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Michael Burton-Smith () Holiday Beach Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://hbmo.ca/
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