Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 340 1628 1628 Osprey 0 14 14 Bald Eagle 0 26 26 Northern Harrier 11 207 207 Sharp-shinned Hawk 111 2669 2669 Cooper's Hawk 1 12 12 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 127 64798 64798 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 12 140 140 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 10 699 699 Merlin 0 21 21 Peregrine Falcon 2 19 19 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 614 70234 70234 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Mark Hainen, Sarah deGuise Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: The overstaying-guest low has finally been banished to the east and a very large high is moving in. The barometer was really the only indicator that the situation had changed as we spent another day with brisk winds, albeit from a slightly more northerly direction, under mostly sullen skies. Occasional glimpses of a cerulean blue world above the dense clouds were permitted. Winds had shifted to the NNW to start the day and ended up from true north. They still had vigor, staying up around the ten-mph range nearly all day. Temperatures reached the high fifties but real-feels were a little lower. The barometer climbed all day and ended up over the 30-inch mark for the first time in a couple of days. It should continue to climb tomorrow. Raptor Observations: The NW wind usually rewards our friends across the border in Canada and so it was today. We got the leftovers. We had a very slow afternoon when the winds went to north and spent most of the day scouring the sky to the south for the occasional reward. Turkey vultures led the way today with a total of 340. Broad-winged hawks stayed away in droves and only 127 were noted as compared to nearly 6K at Holiday Beach. The vagaries of the wind…tomorrow may be our day with mild NE winds. Time will tell. Sharp-shins were next on the list with 111 fighting their way across. 11 harriers were noted. The red-tails seemed to be moving a little more today with 12 birds, nearly all juvenile. One Cooper’s hawk was seen. Falcons were represented by 10 kestrels and 2 peregrines. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans were up again today, although never congregating in numbers as large as yesterday. Approximately 5000 blue jays came fluttering by. One lone monarch butterfly made the effort. Lots of swallows were seeking sustenance aloft, and the gulls, including some Bonaparte’s, joined them with occasional herky-jerky diversions in their flight path giving away their intent. I’m not sure what they are catching up there but there must be plenty of them. The great egrets continue to gather in large numbers in the marsh and occasionally a solo bird flies past the site. Predictions: Tomorrow has the potential to be a good day for us. The barometer is still rising and the winds will be from the NE, or there abouts, at a speed below 5 mph. It could be a little stronger but what’s not to like? There may be still broad-wings out there that ran from Fiona and are a little late getting to our site. Fingers crossed. The sky will be mostly blue tomorrow with temperatures reaching the 60-degree mark. This will be the first day of NE winds with a very large high moving in. The larger the highs get, the more days of wind from the same direction will happen. That can be good if it’s a favorable wind, but not so much, if it is in a more unfavorable direction. ======================================================================== 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-2022