This morning Mike and I made the drive from Leamington to Holiday Beach, a place that is very dear to me. I spent 1980-1990 as a hawk counter here. And in 1988 was involved with getting the tower.
We had arranged to have Detroit Edison sell us the tower, which they had on their property in Monroe County, Michigan. The sale price was US$1. The cost to get dissembled, move it to Holiday Beach and reassembly was over US$10,000. We did fund raising and got ERCA (Essex Regional Conservation Authority) involved. It was exciting to have it ready for Fall, 1989.
I was amazed to see thee photos on the sign at the base of the tower. That’s a much younger me on the lower left looking at what was going on.
While the winds were strong from the south and discouraging migration we did manage to see one larger group of Turkey Vultures.
We also had a poorly lit Northern Harrier pass.
It was fun spending time talking to Liz and Hugh the counters. Later we went over to the hawk-banding blind and saw Bob Hall-Brooks who I first met in 1989.
It was a real trip down memory lane.
More later…
Michael's Place 