Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 114 1638 3719 Osprey 0 0 28 Bald Eagle 1 4 101 Northern Harrier 0 24 387 Sharp-shinned Hawk 22 271 3294 Cooper's Hawk 2 6 33 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 37 51911 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 25 171 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 2 American Kestrel 1 5 928 Merlin 0 1 34 Peregrine Falcon 2 6 36 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 3 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 3 Total: 144 2020 60656 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Michelle Peregord, Sam Heilman Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site as we are eager to share the joys of hawk watching with one and all. Although there may be times in which we are all very busy and need alone-time to concentrate, those are the times that are most enjoyable for visitors as the skies are filled with migrating raptors. Weather: Well, at least the Tigers won. By my reckoning, we have one more day of purgatory in the BSOD world we have been living in. We are on the west side of a high-pressure zone, and they are so large nowadays that four days of southerly winds are guaranteed. We should have one more day before the skies may cloud up, and a little rain may fall. After that, we should see the winds switch the north and temperatures drop to a more seasonally normal high. We are surrounded by a curtain of haze. Perhaps it’s clean smog from “clean coal”, that prevents us from peering into the distance, the way we normally do. Turkey vultures are doing David Copperfield disappearing acts in front of our eyes. Poof, they are gone, never to be seen again. The southern winds usually bring heat, and today was no exception, with the temperature reaching the mid-eighties. Winds were light to start, but starting climbing at midday, eventually reaching nearly fifteen mph. That effectively cleaned the sky of birds, as they were turning west well before they reached us. The barometer stayed above 30”, as it will through Tuesday, despite the inclement weather coming. It should rebound on Wednesday. There were some cumulus clouds to the west of us, but our sky was nothing but blue. Raptor Observations: There was no joy in Mudville today, even thought the sun was shining. Unless of course, blue jays are your thing. Turkey vultures won the race, but we suspect there were more to be seen, if only we could. One hundred and fourteen took the gold. Twenty-two sharpies struggled into the wind to take the silver. Other birds were scarce, two Cooper’s hawks, red-tailed hawks and peregrine falcons. Only one each of the bald eagle and American kestrel species. Non-raptor Observations: Jays were the main movers today with eleven thousand, six hundred and thirty keeping the clicker smoking. The American white pelicans came back to their roosting place near the Celeron jetty, twenty were seen flying together, and smaller groups later landed at the roosting spot. A single common tern made a lap around the slip this morning. A pair of Forster’s terns were later spotted over the lake. We did see the Caspian tern yesterday, but not today. Canada geese are practicing their formation flying, with plenty of verbal criticisms being given during the flights. The monarchs fell victim to the winds today with only thirty-three showing up. Predictions: Tomorrow should show a little more cloud than today, but the winds, the winds will still be from the south. Once again, they will climb during the watch from seven to twelve mph. Once again, the temperatures will reflect the direction from which the winds come, and hit the mid-eighties. The barometer should drop slightly, and bottom out on Tuesday. I would not place a heavy bet on tomorrow, or the next day, but Wednesday, as it is forecast, shows promise. It should be a brisk day with cold northern winds in our face, only reaching the sixty-degree mark. Bring an extra layer. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (ajyes72@gmail.com) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285