I guess since I'm given a couple of close-ups in this news report, I figured I'd throw it on here for folks to see. Holiday Beach really is a wonderful place to visit and I love hawk-watching here in the fall.
http://www.ctvwindsor.ca/2012/09/holiday-beach-praised-for-hawk-watching/
And one more link:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/story/2012/09/26/wdr-holiday-beach-hawks.html
Showing posts with label Holiday Beach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holiday Beach. Show all posts
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Friday, October 19, 2012
Holiday Beach Raptors and Kingsville area birding
I only had to help out w/ the Holiday Beach Hawk Count on Wednesday this week so I decided on Thursday to head out and do some birding around Essex County.
First off, the raptor count has been great. I agreed to help count 2 days/week during the duration of the counting season right after I got back from James Bay. Although I've missed the only 2 Swainson's Hawks that have flown over by one day this fall (the species would be an Ontario Year Bird and lifer), I've had a lot of good sightings there and it's certainly giving me a new appreciation for Official Counters. There are times when so many Turkey Vultures, Blue Jays, blackbirds, crows, and finches are flying over that you have up to 4 tickers in hand clicking away and trying to get an accurate count! A few highlights have been the huge numbers of Blue Jays (my highest day so far was 37,380 birds), likely one of my highest count of Tree Swallows I've ever had in an hour span (1,032 streaming by the tower), and the large numbers of ducks to sort through each day on the marsh adjacent to the tower. Another highlight at the beginning of the raptor season was the number of Soras that would start screaming in the marsh each time hunters' guns went off. In my time counting I've only had one juvenile Golden Eagle (I expect more), a few Red-shouldered Hawks (definitely expect more!) and not nearly the numbers of Red-tailed Hawks that will eventually fly over.
Back to Thursday. Andrew Keaveney and I checked out a few spots along the Lake Erie shoreline once the storms cleared, starting w/ Leamington Marina. Literally nothing interesting there so we tried Kingsville Marina where it was closed off due to construction! We then tried a couple places I've never birded before despite growing up in the area (slaps wrist dutifully). The stops included Lakeside Park, which has a very interesting beach with sandbars reaching well out into the lake along the shoreline where large groups of loafing gulls were sitting, and Cedar Island, another good spot for gulls. The only birds of note were a single Lesser Black-backed Gull, a good number of Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Sanderlings, and a 90% sure Semipalmated Sandpiper, that was distant but showed most of the field marks we needed to safely say it wasn't any of the other peeps (well, except maybe Western but I won't go there....). I'll certainly be birding these areas again in the future having now been introduced to them.
First off, the raptor count has been great. I agreed to help count 2 days/week during the duration of the counting season right after I got back from James Bay. Although I've missed the only 2 Swainson's Hawks that have flown over by one day this fall (the species would be an Ontario Year Bird and lifer), I've had a lot of good sightings there and it's certainly giving me a new appreciation for Official Counters. There are times when so many Turkey Vultures, Blue Jays, blackbirds, crows, and finches are flying over that you have up to 4 tickers in hand clicking away and trying to get an accurate count! A few highlights have been the huge numbers of Blue Jays (my highest day so far was 37,380 birds), likely one of my highest count of Tree Swallows I've ever had in an hour span (1,032 streaming by the tower), and the large numbers of ducks to sort through each day on the marsh adjacent to the tower. Another highlight at the beginning of the raptor season was the number of Soras that would start screaming in the marsh each time hunters' guns went off. In my time counting I've only had one juvenile Golden Eagle (I expect more), a few Red-shouldered Hawks (definitely expect more!) and not nearly the numbers of Red-tailed Hawks that will eventually fly over.
Back to Thursday. Andrew Keaveney and I checked out a few spots along the Lake Erie shoreline once the storms cleared, starting w/ Leamington Marina. Literally nothing interesting there so we tried Kingsville Marina where it was closed off due to construction! We then tried a couple places I've never birded before despite growing up in the area (slaps wrist dutifully). The stops included Lakeside Park, which has a very interesting beach with sandbars reaching well out into the lake along the shoreline where large groups of loafing gulls were sitting, and Cedar Island, another good spot for gulls. The only birds of note were a single Lesser Black-backed Gull, a good number of Great Black-backed Gulls, 2 Sanderlings, and a 90% sure Semipalmated Sandpiper, that was distant but showed most of the field marks we needed to safely say it wasn't any of the other peeps (well, except maybe Western but I won't go there....). I'll certainly be birding these areas again in the future having now been introduced to them.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Potpourri
Just a quick update as to what will be happening around here for the next couple weeks. As I've been writing, my trip to Florida has arrived and I'm leaving soon to the Panhandle for a week. Obviously, many posts with many lists will follow. I wanted to get around updating the High Park hawk counts from this week but it's been another slow week for migrants (at least at this particular counts...according to reports from Holiday Beach and a few other locations, huge numbers are still going through; especially Turkey Vultures). Hopefully when I get back from Florida (November 7), there will still be some good hawk movement and I can get Rough-legged Hawk, Northern Goshawk, Golden Eagle, and Red-shouldered Hawk (at least the first and last should be easy).
I'm also VERY MUCH hoping that the White-faced Ibis is still in the vicinity of Hillman Marsh. Marianne just sent me an email telling me there are a lot of migrants of all kinds flying through the Pelee area right now so hopefully we can get a good day of birding in there before I hit the road to Florida.
A few highlights from my week: a great show from 2 Cooper's Hawks at High Park, chasing squirrels and pigeons. They were an adult (probably male by the size) and an immature bird. Another great sighting was on a rainy day when I watched a relatively late Osprey hunting in Grenadier Pond at High Park. I also had a domesticated Greylag Goose there, which was a first for the park (not that it's countable, just interesting). Grenadier Pond is very reliable for decent numbers of Northern Shovelers right now with 20 birds present the last day I visited. I have also seen at least 1 or 2 Pied-billed Grebes each time I've visited this week. Not much in terms of passerines, but good numbers flying over the hawk count including migrating Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins, Goldfinches, and Cedar Waxwings. A few Eastern Bluebirds and Purple Finches have been flying through as well. On Thursday, we had a flock of White-winged Scoter fly over, many migrating Canada Geese (no Cackling), large numbers of Mergansers (probably Red-breasted), and Double-crested Cormorant. Definitely worth it to take a visit to High Park this time of year.
Lastly, the Cormorant Cull meeting regarding Middle Island was very interesting, a bit frustrating, but very informative. It really sounds like they're going through with the cull no matter what. The meetings may just be part of the environmental impact assessment so management can at least say they consulted the public. A lot of strong words about the cull were stated and my final thought is that there is too little strong scientific evidence to back up a management decision of this capacity, time-scale, and cost.
Well, I guess I'll sign off until I get back from my Florida trip.
Happy birding!
I'm also VERY MUCH hoping that the White-faced Ibis is still in the vicinity of Hillman Marsh. Marianne just sent me an email telling me there are a lot of migrants of all kinds flying through the Pelee area right now so hopefully we can get a good day of birding in there before I hit the road to Florida.
A few highlights from my week: a great show from 2 Cooper's Hawks at High Park, chasing squirrels and pigeons. They were an adult (probably male by the size) and an immature bird. Another great sighting was on a rainy day when I watched a relatively late Osprey hunting in Grenadier Pond at High Park. I also had a domesticated Greylag Goose there, which was a first for the park (not that it's countable, just interesting). Grenadier Pond is very reliable for decent numbers of Northern Shovelers right now with 20 birds present the last day I visited. I have also seen at least 1 or 2 Pied-billed Grebes each time I've visited this week. Not much in terms of passerines, but good numbers flying over the hawk count including migrating Grackles, Red-winged Blackbirds, Starlings, Robins, Goldfinches, and Cedar Waxwings. A few Eastern Bluebirds and Purple Finches have been flying through as well. On Thursday, we had a flock of White-winged Scoter fly over, many migrating Canada Geese (no Cackling), large numbers of Mergansers (probably Red-breasted), and Double-crested Cormorant. Definitely worth it to take a visit to High Park this time of year.
Lastly, the Cormorant Cull meeting regarding Middle Island was very interesting, a bit frustrating, but very informative. It really sounds like they're going through with the cull no matter what. The meetings may just be part of the environmental impact assessment so management can at least say they consulted the public. A lot of strong words about the cull were stated and my final thought is that there is too little strong scientific evidence to back up a management decision of this capacity, time-scale, and cost.
Well, I guess I'll sign off until I get back from my Florida trip.
Happy birding!
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