Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 21, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1006 65671 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 0 9 75 Northern Harrier 0 15 390 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 34 5871 Cooper's Hawk 0 13 80 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 116 449 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 1173 4182 Rough-legged Hawk 1 2 2 Golden Eagle 0 13 30 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 0 7 75 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 62 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3 2391 145236 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Sarah deGuise Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: A much more comfortable day in which to accomplish very little, but you take what you are given. The winds were the culprit that bought us little in the way of raptors but made the day more interesting nonetheless. Blowing out of the SW most of the day in the 15 to 20 mph range, it had the white horses running on the lake and created a constant dull roar in the trees behind us. The whitecaps had the ducks moving closer to our site seeking a little shelter from the choppy waters. The sky was a fast-moving parade of high cirrus and cirrocumulus clouds providing everchanging patterns against a deep blue backdrop, eventually leaving us with just the blue at day’s end as the last of the clouds sped away. The SW winds brought in warmer air, surpassing the forty-degree barrier with ease. After the last couple of days, it felt positively balmy as we watched some of the snow melt around us as a consequence of the higher temps. The barometer fell about a tenth of an inch today but will rebound tomorrow. Raptor Observations: The winds probably moved most of the birds well to the north of us. A couple of the birds we did see were interesting though. The first of two red-tails seemed to have dark patagial bars but no belly band that we could see. It was at a distance and I would have liked to have gotten pictures of it. The same goes for the next bird, a high and distant rough-legged hawk. It was a very handsome light-morph that displayed well in the sunshine in the scope but would have been difficult to find with the camera. One last red-tail crossed our path at day’s end for a total of three birds. Non-raptor Observations: The more interesting part of the day came from the winds blowing so hard that some of the duck population and gulls took refuge in our little cove. We could see scaup lined up against Celeron Island and even more were still out on the lake when the Interlake vessel Herbert C. Jackson passed downbound and stirred them up. Although it was hard to see them because of the waves blocking the view as they bounced around, I believe we had a small party of horned grebes riding the storm out. Hooded mergansers raced around us this morning, actually landing fairly close before thinking better of it. A solitary female bufflehead swam by. Our bald eagle seemed to delight in scaring up the gulls standing on the floating ice island in the slip. Although we did not see any exotics today, our Bonaparte’s population was up to near seventy birds. A few horned larks flew overhead in a small group. Predictions: The winds will follow a similar pattern tomorrow, coming from the SW with a late change to WSW. The strength will be much more manageable staying in the four to nine mph range. The temperatures will also be similar to today’s, reaching forty-four degrees. Morning clouds should clear, leaving us with a mostly sunny day. Our chances of seeing birds are probably better tomorrow due to the wind having less oomph, but it is still coming from a bad direction and it is late in the season. ======================================================================== 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-2022