Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 06, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1553 6158 7879 Osprey 0 1 8 Bald Eagle 0 4 71 Northern Harrier 18 40 211 Sharp-shinned Hawk 74 308 2262 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 10 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 3 Broad-winged Hawk 1 15 75163 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Red-tailed Hawk 1 29 147 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 17 63 591 Merlin 2 5 26 Peregrine Falcon 1 8 20 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 5 Unknown Buteo 0 1 19 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 15 Total: 1667 6636 86433 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bella Maiwurm, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord, Rebekah Graham 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: Today�s lesson was about diminishing returns. The wind at the start of the watch was zero, it gradually grew to nine mph, at its peak, from the dreaded southwest. Our hourly count totals diminished as the wind picked up. We made a little rebound in the last hour, but only by strip mining TVs on the edge of visibility in the haze to the north. The temperature exceeded expectations by three degrees, reaching sixty-eight-degrees. The skies were never really crowded with clouds, a nice display of cirrocumulus clouds in the morning hours moved along leaving only sparse remnants of clouds to contrast with the blue sky. It was a nice summer-like day for October, which has yet to show its teeth. The barometer was headed down at a sharp angle on the graph, dropping two tenths over the course of the watch. This will continue tomorrow with another three tenths of pressure drop. Raptor Observations: This is October, so those must be turkey vultures. Thankfully, the birds are distinctive, even in the hazy soup that was today�s distant sky. Fifteen hundred and fifty-three passed by when they finally made up their minds to move, after some back and forth in some cases. A distant second was the sharpie contingent with seventy-four members. It was a tight battle between the harriers and kestrels for the bronze. Harriers took it with eighteen, besting the kestrels by one, who came very close with seventeen. With two merlin and one peregrine falcon, the falcon hat-trick was achieved again. One red-tailed hawk and a lonely broad-winged hawk made up the final members of today�s count. Non-raptor Observations: A quiet day for the pelicans, perhaps some kind of holiday for them, as only a few were seen today. The southern winds maybe affecting them as well. Forster�s terns and Caspian terns are still attacking the fish with total abandon; CTE apparently not a concern for them. The gulls were not an issue today; the swarms of flying ants must have passed their peak. The cormorants were not seen en masse on the lake today, but the wind had whipped up white caps that grew as the day progressed so the waters were choppy. We are starting to see lines of unidentified ducks in the distance. Only six-hundred and twenty blue jays were noted today. The winds must have pushed the monarchs to the north too, none were observed. Predictions: The falling barometer is of concern tomorrow, a one-day low will visit, packing high southwest winds. The pressure is predicted to be twenty-nine point seventy-three, a significant drop from the thirty point twenty-four at the start of the day today. Both the southwest winds and the pressure drop are bad omens. The winds should peak in double digits at thirteen mph. There should be some increase in cloud cover but there will be sun as well. The temperature should be seventy-seven degrees as the southwest winds bring the heat. It will be difficult to see what birds may be traveling as they will be pushed to the north in a hazy sky. ======================================================================== 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