Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 8 60 60
Osprey 0 9 9
Bald Eagle 1 21 21
Northern Harrier 8 83 83
Sharp-shinned Hawk 133 1311 1311
Cooper's Hawk 0 6 6
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 4777 31486 31486
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 3 97 97
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 35 338 338
Merlin 1 13 13
Peregrine Falcon 1 9 9
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
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Kevin Georg
Observers: Mark Hainen, 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:
Guest writer Sarah here again for the last time before we are back to our
regularly scheduled program. Summer seems to be holding on as the
temperature held around 28°C for most of the day. While we chased the
shade the westerly 26km/h winds keep us cool, as well as pushed the birds
in our direction. The clouds left the sky early in the morning making it
hard to spot the high flying birds but thats nothing a master counter cant
fix.
Raptor Observations:
We started off the morning a little slow but the our favorite little
Sharpies finally made their way in our direction which was only the start
to what turned out to be a fantastic day. We had a good Broad-wing push
around lunch time with 457 birds in a kettle but as the hour ended, so did
the birds. The Kestrels and Sharpies continued to migrate across the count
site which kept things interesting, but just as we were about to pack it up
for the day we heard a gasp from the visiting crowd and that gasp turned
out to be 4292 Broad-wings! Even though the sky was covered in a harsh blue
the kettling birds covered the sky like a storm cloud.
Non-raptor Observations:
The booming pile driver across the lake continued again today but
thankfully only for a short amount of time. The Blue jays are still
continuing to move but in lesser numbers than they have been. The jays act
as a good indicator for where a bird of prey might be as the jays would
scatter from the trees franticly trying to find a safe space away from the
talons of a possible Peregrine.
Predictions:
Tomorrow is looking similar to today with mild winds and higher
temperatures, the winds look like they are switching from a NNW wind to a
SW wind. Tomorrow night might bring in some scattered thunderstorms which
will also bring some cooler weather which will be nice for us at the count
site.
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Report submitted by Jessie Fletcher (jessica_fletcher@fws.gov)
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