"After a slow start, hawks are really beginning to fly through the Holiday Beach area," said the President of the Holiday Beach Migration Observatory, Hugh Kent.
Just in time too for the Festival of the Hawks this weekend at the Holiday Beach Conservation Area in Amherstburg.
This weekend, families, birders, and nature lovers will join the celebration at a location Audubon Magazine has called one of the top ten sites in North America to watch the raptor migration.
The Essex Region Conservation Authority has a full slate of hikes and workshops planned this Saturday and Sunday included in the $20 fee for each vehicle. Experts will band raptors and hummingbirds so scientists can track their populations each year.
The event also features activities for the kids, incuding a woodland Critter Parade at 1:30 p.m. at the Outdoor Classroom. Guests are encouraged to dress up as their favourite woodland animal, or to make a mask in the event tent and join in.
The kids can also join the Birds of a Feather Treasure Hunt and match clues to hidden birds and feathers along the trail.
The best time to view the raptors is from 9 a.m. to noon when they fly low.
Holiday Beach Conservation Area is on County Road 50, on Lake Erie near Malden Centre.