Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 62 1542 65830 Osprey 0 0 11 Bald Eagle 0 12 127 Northern Harrier 0 4 367 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 42 3451 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 51 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 16 54 292 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 75181 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 2 Red-tailed Hawk 29 292 1926 Rough-legged Hawk 1 3 11 Golden Eagle 0 5 51 American Kestrel 0 0 741 Merlin 0 1 45 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 38 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 6 Unknown Buteo 2 6 52 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 22 Total: 121 1965 148208 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Bella Maiwurm Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Rebekah Graham Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site at the Lake Erie Metropark Boat Launch. We are always willing to discuss the events of the day. Let us share our enthusiasm with you. There will be busy days, that may require our full attention, but those are not that frequent, and they provide great thrills for all. We can predict good days to some degree, but the exact hour is up to the birds, so be prepared to put in some time for the best results. Pack a lunch😊 Weather: Let�s all take a moment from our sheltered lives to think of the twenty-nine souls that lost their lives in a terrifying passage of a turbulent Lake Superior fifty-one years ago today. May they rest in peace. Today was an atypical day for this time of year, November has yet to show its teeth, but the transition to more seasonal weather may start soon. The temperature reached sixty-six degrees and the golfers responded by hitting the links. Cirrocumulus clouds that made for a very attractive sunrise were soon pushed aside by the Blue Sky of Death which held sway the rest of the day. The winds were having trouble making up their minds today as no sway was held. Varying both in strength and direction, generally from a western origin, with occasional lurches to a more southerly area, it varied from three to eleven mph in a nonlinear fashion. A look of confusion was seen of some of the raptors that passed. The barometer was essentially flat today but will drop tomorrow as a rainy patch approaches. Raptor Observations: A relatively slow day today but we did hit triple digits, which is probably the best we can do at this time of year. We did have a special guest today, Mackinaw the Red Tail, a red-tailed hawk carrying a transmitter on its back, like a mini backpack, was spotted by the sharp eye of Miss Bella, our excellent apprentice. This bird was fitted with the device by Nick Alioto in 1922. It breeds in Quebec and winters in southern Ohio. It has taken various routes between the two places and today we were lucky enough that it was close enough to see and photograph. Turkey vultures are still tenaciously clinging to the top step, but it took a strong last hour to save them. Sixty-two took home Participation T shirts today. Red-tailed hawks played hide-and-seek today as the inconsistent winds caused in consistent flight lines. Twenty-nine widely spread birds came through. Red-shoulders are also on the move with sixteen noted. Sharpies were flying today with eleven specimens. Our bird of the day, with all due respect to Mackinaw, was a dark morph rough-legged hawk that gave us some good looks at its plumage before flying back out over the lake to cross. Non-raptor Observations: The fight of the day took place between an angry merlin, (is there any other kind) and a terrified sharp-shin. The local merlin stooped on the sharpie which managed to avoid contact at the last moment. The sharpie decided that to continue to fly in that airspace was not a viable option and stooped to the safety of the trees below. Bonaparte�s gulls came into the slip in small numbers today. There are many more out by the jetty, but they are satisfied where they are. The brown creeper was back today, as was the red-bellied woodpecker. The maple next to our site was starting to fill with mourning doves at the end of the watch for some unknown reason. At least six took up residence. A kingfisher made a fly-by today. A local bald pulled out a large common carp that was ripe enough to float for an early brunch, no bottomless mimosas though. The crows were moving today with twenty-two hundred and eight coming through. The warm weather must have woke up some late monarch butterflies as four were spotted today. Predictions: Tomorrow looks like a low-pressure system will brush by us. The barometer will fall, the temperature will drop by eleven degrees, and showers may occur. Most of the rain looks to be in the evening though. Winds are predicted to be very low from the southwest, then switching to northeast near the end of the watch. Cloud cover will be back in significant percentages of the sky. The rain looks like it will hang around on Thursday so the birds may sit this one out until it clears. There are northerly winds coming over the next few days with a rising barometer. Those will probably be better days than tomorrow. ======================================================================== 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