Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 24, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 37 97 97 Osprey 0 16 16 Bald Eagle 0 24 24 Northern Harrier 5 103 103 Sharp-shinned Hawk 238 1456 1456 Cooper's Hawk 0 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 72 17100 17100 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 35 35 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 6 427 427 Merlin 3 10 10 Peregrine Falcon 1 12 12 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 363 19286 19286 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen 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: We hawk- counters finally had a “weekend” thanks to the weather of the last two days in which a low parked over us and dumped rain until it reluctantly moved on. We were near the center of the low as the rain clouds raced around us in a counter-clockwise direction like a Catherine wheel. The weather today was a very pleasant change with sunshine at the end of the watch as we hit over thirty inches on the barometer. There were some early high cirrus clouds indicating more rain to come tomorrow. Cumulus clouds moved in only to dissipate as the humidity dropped and the sky cleared. The winds were variable in both strength and direction today causing some different styles of flight than we usually see. It was not uncommon to see birds flying just over the water to stay below the wind. Temperatures started around fifty in the morning but had climbed to a very comfortable seventy-two as we closed the watch. Raptor Observations: We are getting to be a one-trick pony at DRHW; our trick is sharp-shinned hawks. They came throughout the day and we tallied two hundred and thirty-eight of the flappers and gliders. They seemed to be buffeted by the wind a lot today but they fought their way though. We only had six kestrels today but we did have a falcon hat-trick with one peregrine and three merlins. Typically, one of the merlins went after a sharp-shin as they battled their way into the wind over the lake. It had energy to spare apparently; some birds just don’t play well with others. Five northern harriers were noted today. One red-tailed hawk was counted. We saw seventy-two broad-wings today but there were no large, or even moderately-sized kettles, just a dribble spread out over the watch hours. Non-raptor Observations: The gulls were up in force today as at times they were blocking for the raptors. Blocking our view that is. Apparently, there were plenty of bugs aloft as they spent most of the day flying high seeking them. We did see a common loon fly by this morning. Only one sighting of a Caspian tern was seen as they may have moved on. I think they weather may have disrupted the normal pattern as it was fairly quiet today on the non-raptor front. Predictions: Tomorrow’s watch will depend on the accuracy of the timing of the predicted rain. There seems to be a high chance that the morning hours will see precipitation but whether it will interfere with our mission remains to be seen. SSW winds will be climbing to double digits before swinging round to the W. The barometer will drop tonight for the coming rain but start to waffle over the next few days before rebounding on next Tuesday. That day looks good with NE winds and a rising barometer. We’ll see if that comes to pass. ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2021