Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 75 197 197 Osprey 0 6 6 Bald Eagle 10 62 62 Northern Harrier 7 74 74 Sharp-shinned Hawk 105 790 790 Cooper's Hawk 1 4 4 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 35997 40318 40318 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 10 50 50 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 116 282 282 Merlin 0 14 14 Peregrine Falcon 2 8 8 Unknown Accipitrine 1 5 5 Unknown Buteo 0 7 7 Unknown Falcon 0 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 8 12 12 Total: 36332 41831 41831 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 18:00:00 Total observation time: 9.75 hours Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bella Maiwurm, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Johannes Postma, Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord, Rebekah Graham , Rosemary Brady Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site at the Lake Erie Metropark Boat Launch. We are always willing to discuss the events of the day. Let us share our enthusiasm with you. There will be busy days, that may require our full attention, but those are not that frequent, and they provide great thrills for all. We can predict good days to some degree, but the exact hour is up to the birds, so be prepared to put in some time for the best results. Pack a lunch😊 Weather: There are days and then there are DAYS! We had the latter today. Yesterday�s late run of broadwings turned out to be the tip of a very large iceberg. We had kettles all day, including during the overtime hours that we put in. Winds were from the northeast today, variable in strength, which may have affected the flight lines at times, but fairly faithful to the direction of origin. The top speed was around noon, at ten mph, followed by a big dip but recovering its strength later in the watch. The cloud cover was also variable with less cover in the morning, allowing views of the cirrus clouds, followed by a gradual build up of cumulus until we ended the day with an almost solid stratus cloud blanket. The temperature rose from a cool fifty-five in the pre-watch hours to a peak of seventy-five. The barometer was rising early, peaked around mid-day but started to fall in anticipation of wet weather over the weekend. Raptor Observations: After the frustration of barely missing twelve thousand birds a few days ago, we had a nice rebound today. The broad-wings had kept their powder dry during the recent rainy days and were prepared for this window between wet systems. They started early and ended late. It was a most extraordinary sight to see, thousands of hawks in rivers of migratory birds. Migration is massive, but too often it goes unobserved, today was not that day. We ended with thirty-five thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine birds. If you rank a day by the number of OMGS!, this one was up there. Both of the other seasonal birds broke the century mark with the kestrels having their day at last, beating out the sharpies by a one hundred sixteen to one hundred five total. Quite the podium today. Turkey vultures flew by in small collectives, totaling seventy-five. Their month is coming in a couple of weeks. We had ten bald eagles, and the same number of red-tailed hawks. Seven northern harriers were tallied. Two peregrine falcons gave us two thirds of the hat-trick. One Cooper�s hawk rounds out the count for a total of thirty-six thousand, three hundred and thirty-two, not a bad day�s work Non-raptor Observations: It was hard to pay attention to other species when trying to track the devilishly hard-to-follow broad-wings, the original �now you see me, now you don�t� birds. A few pelicans were keeping company with a like number of mute swans by the jetty. Swallows and gulls were populating the sky in big numbers today, at times a little bit of a nuisance as they interfered with the view. We are seeing a lot of mallards take to the air, perhaps practicing their pre-migration dance steps. Our resident grumpy egret made no secret of his displeasure at any and all disturbances, and it is easily disturbed. The monarchs usually fly with the broadwings and three hundred and nineteen joined in today. Predictions: It�s unfortunate that for the annual Hawk Fest, held over the weekend at the Metropark, the weather seems disinclined to cooperate. The predictions are for nearly an inch of rain. Even with Weather Undergrounds predilection to be wrong on such matters, this seems threatening enough to take it seriously. Temperatures will be lower tomorrow, peaking at sixty-four degrees, a ten-degree drop. The barometer will be plunging, not a good thing for birds that are migrating. Winds may still be northeast in the early hours but will swing around to a more southerly direction later on. This may be a two-day affair for the wet weather. Hopefully the sharpies will pay no heed but for broadwings, this is not the favored forecast. ======================================================================== 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