Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 03, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1130 8536 15811 Osprey 0 0 14 Bald Eagle 2 6 37 Northern Harrier 4 14 245 Sharp-shinned Hawk 89 244 3120 Cooper's Hawk 4 9 33 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 16 23 26 Broad-winged Hawk 4 25 67284 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 99 225 406 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 9 31 785 Merlin 1 5 30 Peregrine Falcon 2 4 25 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 Total: 1360 9123 87817 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.58 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa, 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: Today was an unusual day weatherwise, unusual in the sense that we rarely see the conditions we witnessed. The winds were finally somewhat deprived of their impetus, dropping into the single digits, but not by much. They were mostly from a NE direction with a few variations. The temperature did exceed the sixty-degree mark by a few degrees. The barometer rose, or was steady, during most of the day, but started what will be a days long decline in the final hour. The humidity was down in the twenty-five percent range which made for a very dry atmosphere with no lower-level clouds. The real show was the high-level mare’s-tailed cirrus clouds and the contrails of the jets passing overhead. The contrails were not dissipating as they usually do. Gradually, as if brushed by a very fine brush, they developed feathery edges as they spread slowly into very long-lived lacy ribbons across the sky. The sun did its part giving us rainbow-like sun dogs and a couple of attempts at colorful sun haloes courtesy of the icy conditions aloft. It was a day to appreciate the artistry of nature with an unobstructed view of its finest and most delicate work. Raptor Observations: The day seemed to get off to a good start with the red-tails moving in good numbers in the second and third hours. We then hit a lull as the birds detoured somewhere to the north. The turkey vultures were not coming from the same line along the coast of Lake Erie as they had the previous two days, turning inland sooner due to the lighter winds. We still managed to count 1,130 but there were gaps where they disappeared. Four turkey vultures in one hour is not a good number during October. We nearly cracked the century mark with the next bird down the list, the red-tailed hawks flew by 99 times. Sharpies are hanging in there with 89 making the trek. Red-shouldered hawks are increasing in number with 16 noted. Four Cooper’s hawks dragged their long tails by. The same number of northern harriers were seen. American kestrels totaled 9. We did achieve the falcon hat-trick today with two peregrines and one merlin counted. Two bald eagles were counted. Sadly, we could not repeat yesterday’s FOY golden eagle. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans seem to have taken up residence near our site with well over a hundred putting on their aerial displays again today. Our resident kingfisher made an early morning appearance. Gulls were once again very numerous as the darker immature birds continue to mimic raptors. In moments of weakness, I am reminded of Bruce Cockburn’s song “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”. Of course, I quickly discard the notion. (But one of these days Alice.) The blue jays came in smaller numbers today with 3,800 counted. For some reason the flocks were not as large as previous days. I suspect they were taking the same detour as many of the other species. We didn’t see large numbers of cormorants today but they may have been busy elsewhere. We do see lines of them overhead in migration nearly every day. Predictions: Tomorrow may look a lot like today with sunny skies and few clouds. The temperatures will hit the high sixties. The barometer will be declining, losing about a tenth during the day but staying above 30 inches. Winds are predicted to be very light out of (guess where?) the NE again. Without a strong steering wind there may be many flight lines to keep track of and like the last two days, they may be very high as the birds seek a little more lift from the stronger winds aloft. Let’s hope we are under those flight lines. ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2022