Niagara Hawkwatch Open House Good Friday
Swoop into Beamer Memorial Conservation Area to spot birds of prey
Niagara is known for its tourism, but each spring visitors of a different kind make their way to, and through, the peninsula.
With the annual spring Hawkwatch in full swing, Beamer Memorial Conservation Area is again hosting the annual Hawkwatch Open House.
The event highlights the work volunteers do to keep track of migratory birds of prey and also sheds light on some of the hawks, ospreys and vultures people can see overhead around this time of year.
“It’s starting to pick up. We’ve had a good run of turkey vultures,” said Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch member Mike Street.
Niagara is a major corridor for migratory birds of prey that travel north in the summer to nest. These birds typically return to the same area they were born to have offspring of their own, and avoid crossing large bodies of water. That, coupled with the Niagara Escarpment and the natural pockets of air and updrafts it produces, makes the area a perfect spot for hawks to glide for hundreds of kilometres in a day.
“They’re forced into a narrow window as they go through Grimsby,” Street said.
Beginning March 1 each year, volunteers set up at the Beamer conservation area to count the birds going overhead. Data is used by people in the ornithological world to track populations and trends. And Street said there have been some very significant trends such as the increase in turkey vultures, which can now account for 50 per cent of all tracked birds.
In the 1950s and ’60s to see a turkey vulture “you had to drive to Windsor, look across the river and hope,” said Street.
The open house is held every year on Good Friday. This year Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority is taking over organizing the event.
With Easter coming so late this year, Street said Friday’s event will provide some unique viewing opportunities.
The broad-winged hawk, for instance, typically makes its way through Niagara later than a lot of the other birds. The first two were spotted on Saturday, and Street expects more to come.
“It’s right smack in the middle of the broad-winged period,” he said.
The open house runs 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More than a dozen conservation, ornithological and community groups will be on hand, and there will be workshops and demonstrations during the day. A live bird demonstration takes place at 1 p.m.
Admission is by donation. Suggested donations are $2 per adult or $5 per family.