Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 15 15 15 Osprey 4 14 14 Bald Eagle 3 6 6 Northern Harrier 22 46 46 Sharp-shinned Hawk 176 217 217 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 2870 3097 3097 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 13 13 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 129 188 188 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 2 9 9 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: 3223 3608 3608 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Mark Hainen, Michala Burke, Patrick Mulawa 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: Well, someone finally turned on the spigot and let the raptors flow. We had a line of thunderstorms pass through the area last night acting like bad guests, raising all kinds of Hades. Today was a recovery day with the barometer on the rebound and skies, although they showed a lot of cloud for most of the day, trending towards a bright blue sky at the end of the day. Temperatures were moderate in the low seventies and the winds were also kept in check below six mph. The winds did change direction quite a bit starting in the north and ending from the south. Whatever the direction we had a steady flow of birds once they started as the horn of plenty seemed to be pointing in our direction. Raptor Observations: We had a modest start to the day starting the first hour with by now a familiar number: zero. From there we grew modestly until the afternoon hours when the dam burst. Ending with over three thousand birds for the day, the usual suspects finally delivered some of their potential. We counted our first turkey vultures of the season as they seemed to be swept along in the deluge. Fifteen were tallied. Two red-tailed hawks were also counted. Ospreys seemed to be on the move, although in smaller numbers, we counted four. I don’t think we are in a major flyway for this species so we never rack up big totals. We did count three bald eagles today. Northern harriers broke the twenty barrier for the first time with twenty-two making the count. One hundred and twenty-nine kestrels gave us some love. At last the sharp-shins seemed to feel the urge to travel and we ended with one hundred and seventy-six. Two peregrines were also noted. The broad-wings finally came in kettles today, mostly during the afternoon hours between two and four. We counted two thousand, eight hundred and seventy birds in several kettles that flew high to the north of us. The southern winds pushed them a little but kept them close enough to barely see at times. Non-raptor Observations: Today was also our best day for monarch butterflies with six hundred and five counted. The sky was also filled with a large number of dragonflies. Some of which fell victim to the small raptors flying overhead as kestrels were observed noshing on them. Gulls were also observed in large kettles during the day. No doubt they were enjoying the flying buffet too. Warblers are still being reported in good numbers on the trails at the Metropark. Predictions: Tomorrow has some potential. The barometer will still be in the go-zone as it continues to climb slightly. The winds will possibly be similar today with light ENE winds in the early hours but changing to the SE and rising to eight mph as the day progresses. This would tend to push the birds to the north and with broadwings a little too much push can put them up over Elizabeth Park instead of us. We shall see. The winds should not bother the sharpies and kestrels that much, he said, with fingers crossed. ======================================================================== 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