Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 12, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 6 6 Osprey 3 6 6 Bald Eagle 4 6 6 Northern Harrier 6 35 35 Sharp-shinned Hawk 74 374 374 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 5 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 291 592 592 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 22 22 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 17 64 64 Merlin 1 3 3 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Accipiter 0 4 4 Unknown Buteo 0 5 5 Unknown Falcon 0 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 12 12 Total: 401 1137 1137 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Bill Peregord, Frank Kitakis, Jerry Jourdan, Jo Patterson Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie MetroPark. We are willing to spread the gospel with pamphlets and information cards, along with tips on IDing the raptors, and photography tips for those behind the cameras. Let us share our enthusiasm for this miracle of nature with you. Weather: The vagaries of the winds actually shifted in our favor this morning when the wind had a northeast flavor for a couple of hours before going more easterly. Its wrath was kept in check, only reaching eight mph. Clouds were nearly non-existent, but there was a light haze overhead all day. The shade of the maple tree was welcome since the temperatures reached eighty degrees and real-feels were a couple of degrees higher. The barometer waffled a little, but stayed above thirty inches. This scenario is predicted to be repeated for the next few days, until Tuesday when the barometer will fall and cloud cover will increase. Raptor Observations: To paraphrase the words of the late John Houseman, who used to shill for Smith Barney, we earned our birds today. Light winds allowed the birds to take many different flight lines; birds to the left of us, birds to the right of us, birds in front of us, birds WAY the hell overhead. It was a workout for our necks today. Broadwings came in smallish kettles in the morning hours on the NE winds, later in the day they came in single digit groups but from many different angles. By day’s end we had amassed two hundred and ninety-one of that species. The sharp-shins got a late start but still managed seventy-four respondents. American kestrels doubled in number today, but yesterday was not a banner day, seventeen made the count today. Northern harriers came by occasionally, six of them made the clicker. Four bald eagles chose to move over today, some of them up in the nosebleed seats with the broadwings. We have had a run of ospreys the last couple of days, three were seen today, including one that baffled all of us with a seeming fit of spasmodic movements that would have failed any field sobriety test. I can only guess that it may have been hawking insects on the wing since the swallows were close by in large numbers in a feeding frenzy. I know that sounds unlikely, but this happened a few times where the bird deviated from normal flight in a violent manner for no apparent reason. The important thing is that we counted it, as it was not one of the locals. Four red-tailed hawks were counted today. Bringing up the rear were one Cooper’s hawk and one merlin. Non-raptor Observations: It was a relatively quiet day on the others front. A red-bellied woodpecker was noted. The occasional great egret made a fly-by. A black-crowned night heron made a cameo appearance flying down the slip. Perhaps the sight of the day was a very large number of ducks, in the hundreds, the most we have seen this year as they flew towards Celeron Island from the river and landed behind the island. Warblers are still being reported on the trails. A Carolina wren continues to serenade us. Predictions: As I mentioned before, the weather for the next few days will be very similar. We are located in a large high-pressure system. The remnants of Francine may visit us in a few days but it looks like more summer-like days are on the menu. The winds are predicted to increase a little in top speed to ten mph, and that may affect our sightings since they will be mostly easterly in direction. Hopefully, we will see birds that fly below the winds but I would prefer another wind for broadwings. Essentially, the forecast looks like they ran off a few copies of the same conditions for the next few days. ======================================================================== 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