Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 21, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 60 60 Osprey 0 16 16 Bald Eagle 0 24 24 Northern Harrier 0 97 97 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1218 1218 Cooper's Hawk 0 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 17028 17028 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 34 34 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 421 421 Merlin 1 7 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 11 11 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 2 18922 18922 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Erika Van Kirk, 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: “It was a dark and stormy night---except at occasional intervals”. (E. B-L) One of the intervals was this morning and although we managed to sit through it, we were not rewarded with any quantity of migrants. We were chased off by rain showers after one hour in the afternoon and it seemed futile to resume. Winds were over twenty mph at the time from the south. The barometer was still hanging in there around thirty inches but a drop is coming with the predicted rain. I don’t really see a large amount on the radar yet but flood warnings are being issued for the area so it’s time to move to higher ground. Raptor Observations: We had only two birds today. A lone sharp-shin was seen struggling in the wind out by the stacks. The other bird was a merlin that popped out of nowhere and proceeded to do their normal thing of chasing another bird with bad intentions. We think the intended target was a swallow and for a few moments they engaged in an aerial dogfight of high G twists and turns with accompanying oohs and aahs from the watchers. The swallow was motivated, and despite the merlin’s best efforts, he lived to see another day. Our other moment of interest was watching one of our local subadult bald eagles pluck a fish from the water. Usually, an eagle will tuck its catch under its tail, at times making it difficult to see whether they actually got something. This time it was obvious that it had retrieved the fish as it was fairly large and it looked more like an osprey carrying its prey. Pictures revealed that it was a northern pike. The gulls took an interest and followed the eagle but thought better of actually engaging in combat. Non-raptor Observations: It was a quiet day on the non-raptor front today. The high winds seemed to keep most things staying close to home. The cormorants were out in numbers again seeking to eat every fish in the lake with their insatiable appetites. Our family of growing mallard ducklings spent their time chasing water bugs today bringing smiles to our faces as they sprinted after them. Predictions: Tomorrow looks like a complete rainout. A system is supposed to stall over us dumping a lot of rain. Whether the predicted amounts arrive or not, it seems unlikely that raptors will be on the move. The winds will be from the north at substantial speeds near twenty mph all day. This would shove any birds out over the lake beyond our sight if they were to move. This system may carry over into Wednesday too. ======================================================================== 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