Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 19, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 80 832 90780 Osprey 0 0 29 Bald Eagle 11 31 180 Northern Harrier 7 35 514 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 85 4029 Cooper's Hawk 5 8 73 American Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 26 87 256 Broad-winged Hawk 0 1 51922 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Red-tailed Hawk 296 728 1770 Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 6 Golden Eagle 7 25 60 American Kestrel 0 0 964 Merlin 0 4 54 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 48 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 3 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 10 Total: 445 1843 150704 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jo Patterson Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Jerry Jourdan, Rosemary Brady 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, it finally worked. We had adopted the Rope-a-Dope strategy from The Rumble in the Jungle that Ali used against George Foreman, a bigger and stronger opponent. Foreman tried to deliver too many knockout blows to Ali before tiring and succumbing to a wilier opponent. Such was our November so far, but we were slipping the punches and waiting until the tempest passed. After yesterday, a day of utter futility with zero birds, we rose from the ashes to reclaim our pride and actually count some meaningful redtail numbers. The sky was like the residue from a feather-pillow fight; at first, icy cirrus clouds provided decorative value while hardly shielding us from the sun’s warmth. As the day progressed, the feathers coalesced into diaphanous status layers as we went deeper into the rounds. It was still a varied assortment of high lightly-pigmented cloud variations at the end of the day, but they were much more effective at blocking the sun. The temperature reached forty-six degrees. The very mild winds, for once, favored us. It blew from a northeast direction for most of the day. Towards the end of the watch, the traditional flip to southeast winds changed the flight line, also bringing a chill to the air as the wind came off the lake. The barometer was rising after yesterday’s one-day dip, although it did decline a little at the end of the watch as heftier clouds are moving in tomorrow. Raptor Observations: Today was moving day for buteos and others. At least today, we were on the edge of the party, instead of outside, just listening through the door to the festivities. Red-tails were the stars today, starting early, with a midday lull, but regaining the momentum near the end of the day, we counted two hundred and ninety-six. At the end of the day, they were flying bumper to bumper, almost like broadwings shooting by. Turkey vultures are getting scarce, but still had a relatively good day with eighty dihedrals counted. Red-shouldered hawks took the bronze with twenty-six showing up. Bald eagles and sharpies shared the number eleven, it’s not often that those two species match counts at our site. The other species of eagle, the golden variety, shared the number seven with northern harriers. Five Cooper’s hawks were noted. We had a variety of rough-legged hawks with one of each morph, one light and one dark. Non-raptor Observations: The tundra swans were out in force this morning. Looking like the pelican flocks we saw in October, hundreds took to the air this morning, possibly heading up the river, since they were headed north. We did see some loon activity with one in the water in front of Celeron Island, and a couple more in flight. A flight of hooded mergansers raced by in the afternoon, small and fast! Bonaparte’s came to visit us in the afternoon. A local bald eagle continued to show off his swimming skills with a fifteen-minute swim holding on to a large goldfish that he had snagged. He swam a couple of football fields length with his prize, but our view was obscured and we did not see the final landing place. He did sit up in a tree to dry off. Fish fry tonight. We saw some American tree sparrows today for the first time. The Great blue herons were up in significant numbers taking the airs today. It’s unusual to see thirty or more flying for long periods of time and seemingly kettling. The crows were plentiful today with two thousand, and seventy-one counted. Predictions: Feeble winds are forecast for tomorrow. Mostly easterly, but with a touch of south thrown in for good measure. Any prediction of around three mph, usually means variable directions and occasional drops to no wind at all. The barometer will be easing off the throttle and starting a decline lasting for a few days. Clouds are going to dominate the sky. The temperature will reach forty-seven, one more degree than today. With very light winds, it is hard to predict what the birds will do. Multiple flight lines are possible and hopefully, we will be able to see them. ======================================================================== 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