Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 20, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 60 60 Osprey 1 10 10 Bald Eagle 0 21 21 Northern Harrier 28 111 111 Sharp-shinned Hawk 321 1632 1632 Cooper's Hawk 0 6 6 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 21 31507 31507 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 97 97 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 102 440 440 Merlin 2 15 15 Peregrine Falcon 3 12 12 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: 478 33911 33911 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.67 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, 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: Back in the saddle again. I want to thank my relief writers from the bullpen: Sarah, Erika, and Jessie for doing a very good job. I was afraid I might be Wally Pipped. I had a successful reunion and I want to also thank the schedulers that finally let us crush a team on Homecoming weekend. The fact that it was a rival maritime academy made it even more delicious. Today we exchanged one shade of blue for another during the course of the day. We had a light veil of cloud this morning but for all intents and purposes it was a sunny day requiring a lotion exceeding SPF 30. The winds seemed to be light and variable through most of the morning and there were some variances in what we felt and what the app told us was happening. As the day progressed, the wind finally settled in the south and when we left, a few minutes early due to rain, it was picking up steam rather quickly. We went through various cloud formations but ended with a solid mat of a much darker shade of blue than we had started with. There was a weather system off to the NW and the light rain that preceded it caused us to pull the plug. The birds had slowed down considerably in the last hour so there was no great loss. Temperatures nearly reached the 80-degree mark and the high relative humidity made the air feel thick. The barometer waffled around, and like the wind directions, there were variances with their predicted direction that the barometer was moving and the numbers they gave, I guess up can sometimes be down. The general trend was down as rain is on the way and the barometer should bottom out tomorrow. Raptor Observations: Our smaller raptors seemed to find conditions to their liking, especially the sharp-shinned hawks, who were busy early in the day and kept it up until the final hour. Sharpies seem to be more indifferent to wind direction than the buteos. So long as it is not overpowering, they appear on winds that push the wind-surfing buteos out of sight. Today we tallied three hundred and twenty-one sharp-shins. The kestrels were also in a traveling mood with one hundred and two making the clicker. We had a very good northern harrier day with twenty-eight making the show, including one gray ghost. Broadwings were next on the list with twenty-one counted. These birds were well off to the north and not easily seen so there may have been many more but not in our neighborhood. One osprey was counted. Two merlins and three peregrines were also spotted. One of the peregrines engaged in a brief falcon dogfight, not with a merlin as you might expect, but with one of the kestrels that took umbrage at the peregrine’s presence. Non-raptor Observations: Not a very busy day today for non-raptors. The cormorants seemed to be off in a different part of the lake so only a few were noted. The marshland was visited by over one hundred great egrets today, the assembled white masses making an impressive sight when driving in. The kingfisher made a very brief appearance. Blue jays were busy in the morning hours with 5,700 passing through in loose flocks. 300 monarchs were also counted. A great blue heron was seen trying to land on some floating vegetation with little success before thinking better of it. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be a mixed bag, with perhaps summer’s last hurrah taking place as the temperatures should get to the high eighties before falling considerably in the following days. We can only hope. There is a good chance of rain early in the morning hours and the barometer will be bottoming out near 29.7 inches. Winds will start in the south and end from the west. Not much in the way of good raptor indicators tomorrow but maybe the sharpies will continue to flow. Thursday and Friday look much better at the barometer will be on the rise and the winds from the NW. Fingers crossed. ======================================================================== 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