Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 04, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 1 1 Northern Harrier 1 12 12 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 0 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 1 1 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1 15 15 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 12:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister Observers: Bella Maiwurm Weather: Rain delay of the count due to rain and thunderstorms that were persistent for the morning and early afternoon. The weather did clear out around 1200, when we started the count for the day. Heavy cloud cover continued for the rest of the day, with SSW/SW winds around 10mph and temps in the low 70s. A bit of quick drizzle here and there over the couple hours of the count, but nothing that was concerning to us. Raptor Observations: We saw more migrating raptors today than we expected. Just one lonely northern harrier distantly cruising over the river downstream. The local bald eagles and osprey were out and about again today, calling out and making a fuss in the trees, and the local Cooper's hawk made a fly by right at the end of the day. Non-raptor Observations: The normal crowd of birds were out and about, including a few mute swans by the Celeron Island jetty, a massive float of cormorants that was slowly moving in and out of view, and a solo common loon heading south over the treetops. A cute little turtle also made an appearance, unfortunately not sticking around long enough to figure out what he was. Predictions: A chance of showers between 9am and noon. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Northeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Finally, the wind will be in our favor. A small chance of wet in the morning but looks like the rain will be moving out overnight. A bit cooler temps and favorable wind might finally convince birds to get a move on! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (erika_vankirk@fws.gov) 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