Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 06, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 244 1882 3963 Osprey 0 0 28 Bald Eagle 0 4 101 Northern Harrier 6 30 393 Sharp-shinned Hawk 59 330 3353 Cooper's Hawk 1 7 34 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 37 51911 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 25 171 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 2 American Kestrel 3 8 931 Merlin 0 1 34 Peregrine Falcon 1 7 37 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 3 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 3 3 6 Total: 317 2337 60973 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jo Patterson Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Johannes Postma 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: Sad news. Someone saw fit to abscond with our Detroit River Hawk Watch banner overnight. It was of little value, except to us. Today was also of little value as a day of migration. Steadily growing winds off the lake served to push most birds out of our sight, although a determined few made the journey to our location. I can’t say that the conditions were ideal as far as haze went, but it was marginally better today, allowing us to see the turkey vultures a little more clearly. A flotilla of cumulus clouds, apparently in no hurry to sail despite the insistent winds, kept us company off to the northwest. The sky over the lake was essentially clear. Temperatures once again broached the eighty-degree mark with room to spare, as the southern winds, smelling of southwestern cuisine, brought the heat. The barometer is falling a little, as rain appears to be on the way tomorrow. Raptor Observations: The usual early October suspects filled the roster today. Turkey vultures provided the bulk of the tally with two hundred and forty-four. Sharp-shins claimed the silver, as per usual, with fifty-nine “flying mushrooms.” Northern harriers totaled six. The kestrels were late arriving today, but ended with three notches in the belt. One Cooper’s hawk and one peregrine completed today’s count. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans were back today, both flying and roosting out by the jetty. A yellow-rumped warbler visited the small maple by our location. Both Forster’s and Caspian terns were seen today. Tree swallows have been present this year in smaller numbers than their historical levels, but today made up for it, with many of them sweeping the skies. They are usually a source of flak that makes it hard to search for birds, but today, since we had few birds to search for, it wasn’t a problem. The blue jays were on the move today with seven thousand, three hundred flying by, and sometimes, directly over us. Monarchs were hard to find with only twenty-one answering the bell today. Predictions: Change is on the way. Although the winds will start in the south tomorrow, they will flip to the north and bring blessed relief from this unseasonal heat wave that we have been in. Temperatures should drop by fifteen degrees tomorrow, and even more on Wednesday. Hallelujah. Rain is in the forecast, but who knows how much, and when. Rains have a habit of splitting around our site as the lake asserts its influence. There should be plenty of cloud for the rain to fall from, should it choose to do so. The barometer will be at its bottom tomorrow, with a sharp rise starting late in the day, and continuing through Wednesday. This turbulence and change should affect our fortunes in a positive way, the timing is hard to predict tomorrow, but Wednesday looks interesting. ======================================================================== 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