Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 64 1494 5612 Osprey 1 3 22 Bald Eagle 3 9 43 Northern Harrier 0 87 283 Sharp-shinned Hawk 29 953 3867 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 14 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 7 Broad-winged Hawk 0 10 22232 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 23 84 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 1 American Kestrel 1 75 724 Merlin 0 7 30 Peregrine Falcon 0 11 37 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 100 2677 32957 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 11:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood 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: I must go down to the watch again, to the lonely lake and the sky, and all I ask is a Swainson’s hawk and a scope to spot her by. (Apologies to Mr. Masefield.) Another delayed start today due to inclement weather. The weather we had when we arrived was not particularly clement either, with roaring winds out of the SSE growing longer teeth as the day progressed. Our weather stations were reporting inland winds but we saw white horses dancing on the waves in the slip in front of us, an indication of higher speeds than posted coming across the lake. The temperatures were in the lower seventies but it was a two-layer day near the lake. Altocumulus clouds were the order of the day with various shapes, some resembling the furrows of a plowed field at times. The barometer began to fall during the watch going below thirty and the next two days will continue that trend. Raptor Observations: It was a tough wind for our site. The birds that we did see were doing vector analysis and flying sideways as their heads pointed up into the wind but they were carried along in another direction. It wasn’t only the birds but the few monarchs we saw had the same issue, flapping in one direction but being carried at high speed in another. Our biggest number today was for turkey vultures but it’s a fraction of what we should see at this time of year. We counted sixty-four but never more than a few at a time as they took the northern route out of our sight. The sharpies were game today but even they laid low as the wind picked up in the final hours. We managed to spot twenty-nine. The larger birds seemed to be moving today with one osprey and three bald eagles tallied. Two red-tailed hawks were observed fighting with the winds. A lone kestrel was our only falcon today. Non-raptor Observations: I misspoke yesterday when I said you can hunt in the Metropark. You can bring your guns; you can walk through the park, but to actually “hunt” you must stand inches outside the boundaries of the park in the surrounding waters. Small consolation to those that walk the nature trails only to see armed men in camouflage only feet away. It was a relatively quiet day with only the swallows up chasing insects in the air in front of us. Our local ospreys had good luck today, both catching fish. The cormorants were out on the lake in reduced numbers; with the roughness of the lake, a few of them looked a little green around the gills. The high winds essentially scrubbed the skies of birds for the most part. Predictions: Tomorrow’s forecast has one significant factor that will dominate our day; hefty winds from a direction starting with S. They will stay parked around the ten-mph range give or take a little. The barometer will be lower tomorrow as the next two days look to be the opposite of what we might wish for. Temperatures will be rising on the back of the southern winds into the mid-seventies. The winds will stay fairly strong over the next couple of days from the south. There is a low centered over Minnesota now and possibly we will get a cold front on Wednesday that may work a little better for us. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg (kevin.l.georg@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