Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 18, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 21 4068 59871 Osprey 1 2 26 Bald Eagle 1 11 78 Northern Harrier 0 18 371 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 138 6542 Cooper's Hawk 0 10 49 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 144 462 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 44 1667 3282 Rough-legged Hawk 1 3 4 Golden Eagle 1 43 58 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 1 15 64 Peregrine Falcon 2 9 65 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 79 6128 93914 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Frank Kitakis, Rosemary Brady, Shourjya Majumder Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: The westerlies cleared yesterday’s “ash” away quite nicely. The mostly blue sky decorated with high cirrus clouds that greeted us gave the visual impression that it was a lovely fall day, but the winds said otherwise. It blew in cumulus clouds that gradually grew in number and density, eventually crowding and rubbing against each other. At day’s end, the sky was very thick, and dark, and the light had gone. Winds from the west were in the fifteen-mph range with significant gusts most of the day. When you see red-tails getting bounced around like sharpies and vultures are rocking like metronomes, it’s blowing. Temperatures stayed around forty, but as the sun was gradually erased, it felt colder. The barometer stayed above thirty inches but not by much. Raptor Observations: It was a little bit of a mixed bag today. The birds were taking various routes to deal with the headwind, at times very high and other times very low. We had a feeling that possibly more birds were moving but we could not see a consistent pattern. Our surprise bird of the day was another November osprey; it must have surprised a peregrine falcon too as when they were first spotted the peregrine dove on the osprey, which rolled over in the talons-up defensive position. One bald eagle was noted and also one golden eagle, both subadults. Turkey vultures came in small groups and totaled twenty-one at the end of the watch. Two peregrine falcons were seen at a distance and one lone merlin was the other falcon noted. The red-tails carried the heaviest load today with forty-four making the trek. Tagging along with them were two red-shouldered hawks and one light morph rough-legged hawk. Non-raptor Observations: An interesting day on the non-raptor front today. Our first tundra swans were seen, but only a few. The winds came from behind us so occasionally we could hear a whoop from aloft. We also saw two groups of snow geese, the first was only twelve birds and all were white. The second group came later and had fifty-five birds, eight of which were the dark versions. Out on the lake, thousands of ducks looked like a pepper storm on the horizon as they flushed when a ship passed by. Other ducks seemed motivated to move today as they flew in small groups fairly close to the site compared to normal. One of the ring-necked ducks paid the ultimate price today as it was plucked from the water by a bald eagle. It was probably already deceased as duck hunting season is in full swing and not all of the victims are collected and make it to the table. Predictions: The winds will drop to ten mph by the start of the watch and then decrease further as the day progresses. Skies should be mostly sunny for the watch hours. Temperatures will hit forty but reluctantly, coming from below freezing in the morning hours. The barometer will hit 30.4 InHg, peaking on Friday before beginning another slow decline. Let’s hope that the drop in wind strength will encourage the buteos and eagles to fly in great numbers as a high-pressure system moves in. ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2021