Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 463 1366 1366 Osprey 2 27 27 Bald Eagle 16 97 97 Northern Harrier 34 347 347 Sharp-shinned Hawk 285 2939 2939 Cooper's Hawk 4 25 25 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 589 51714 51714 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 6 129 129 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 54 915 915 Merlin 2 32 32 Peregrine Falcon 3 29 29 Unknown Accipitrine 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 2 2 Unknown Falcon 0 3 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 3 3 Total: 1458 57630 57630 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jo Patterson Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Jerry Jourdan, Mark Hainen, Rosemary Brady 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: Another day of gazing into the maw of The Great Blue Monster of a sky without fenestration. A lone cloud appeared but it was of little consequence and died a quick death. Winds were odd, as usual. Starting out of the northeast, below five mph but inconsistent in strength, dropping to zero, and then coming from the east in the afternoon. Temperatures reached the octogenarian mark, but the afternoon east wind kept us cool. The barometer keeps dropping in the afternoon, perhaps related in some way to the wind shifts that seem to occur daily. It surrendered a tenth of an inch off its high for the day. Raptor Observations: The bird movement today seemed a little more normal that yesterday, which had some odd holes in the flow. Broadwings took back the top step on the podium with five hundred, and eighty-nine birds. Small kettles added up over the course of the day. Turkey vultures were sometimes lost to the haze in the morning hours, but still managed four hundred and sixty-three. The sharpies seemed to want to make up for yesterday’s meager showing, with two hundred and eighty-five racing by. Kestrels also had a good day, for our site, with fifty-four showing their pointed wings. Harriers were back today, with thirty-four “banging the kettle drums” as they pumped by. Eagles were on the move today, everyone of them given close scrutiny since we still have golden eagle fever after yesterday. Sixteen came through, most in the midday hours. Red-tailed hawks will have their day, but it wasn’t this day, with six being counted. Four Cooper’s hawks were noted. Two ospreys were clicked. Three peregrine and two merlin falcons made the final tally. Non-raptor Observations: Our resident egret provided some laughs today as its log perch in the water was rolling and he had to play lumberjack to keep up. The pelicans were noted in formation over Celeron, but not their biggest flight, as most are content to sit the day out on the jetty. The blue jays continue to flood by in irregular groups with four thousand, one hundred and ninety observed. The monarchs had a better day with one hundred and two passing through. Predictions: It will be interesting to see if the hurricanes that are active right now will affect our flow of traffic. Already, there is a long plume of cloud reaching up into Canada from Imelda. It should darken our skies in a couple of days. Winds will be intensifying over the next couple of days with northerly winds reaching up to eight mph tomorrow, and double digits on Wednesday. Tuesday should be another day of blue skies with similar temperatures as todays. Perhaps, over the next two days, there will be a rush of birds skirting the potentially bad weather that they may sense. We will oil the clickers just in case. ======================================================================== 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