Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 06, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 2 2 Bald Eagle 4 7 7 Northern Harrier 5 26 26 Sharp-shinned Hawk 24 26 26 Cooper's Hawk 1 2 2 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 229 230 230 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 16 19 19 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 21 27 27 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 1 3 3 Unknown Accipitrine 1 1 1 Unknown Buteo 4 4 4 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 306 347 347 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, 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: �Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright,� and for once, it was here in Mudville, (our new nickname following all the rain of the last few days). A very pleasant day for those celebrating the Labor Day weekend. Cumulus clouds did build during the day, providing a nice back-drop to catch some of the high-flying birds, which nearly all of them were. The heavy clouds did head out toward the lake in the late afternoon hours, leaving us with more blue to deal with. The wind was mostly out of the northeast, rising in strength to fourteen mph before falling a little; veering more to the east in the later hours. The birds have been using this tailwind to their advantage, staying high above the turbulence at treetop level, surfing on following seas with hardly any flapping of wings needed. The temperature peaked at seventy-seven degrees; our comfort was assured by the winds out of the cooler north. The barometer did finally break the thirty-inch mark, topping out at 30.08�, with more rise to come tomorrow. Raptor Observations: The broadwings finally got out of the starting blocks today, small kettles appearing in the morning, small groups in the afternoon. They were the birds of the day with two hundred and twenty-nine steaming though. Sharp-shins and kestrels are picking up the pace too. Twenty-four sharpies and twenty-two kestrels put them on the podium�s lower steps. Sixteen red-tails joined in the race. Five northern harriers made the tally. Four bald eagles were noted. One Cooper�s hawk and one peregrine falcon were also seen. Most of these birds were very high today and very tough to see with optical assistance. Non-raptor Observations: The gulls were up hawking today with kettles appearing in ever-changing locations during the day. Lots of dark immature birds kept us on our toes as they very much resemble soaring hawks, to the point of annoyance at times. The pelicans made a cameo appearance today with six of them doing a flyby up the river. Our resident kingfisher flew by a couple of times. Wild turkeys were once again noted on the drive into the park. The swallows are putting on weight for their migration, hundreds of them filling the air. Forster�s terns and their larger kin, the Caspian tern, continued to terrorize the minnows in the slip. Predictions: The winds will begin to go more easterly tomorrow, eventually working their way around to south-easterly as we start to reach the end of the high-pressure zone on Tuesday. The barometer will peak and start to fall on that day, but the winds will not be favorable for us during the transition. The temperature will be a few degrees cooler tomorrow with a predicted high of seventy-four degrees. We should get a couple of hours of northeast winds tomorrow morning according to Weather Undergrounds speculation, but the afternoon should end with southeastern winds. Hard to say what we may actually get, but the shifting winds will eventually shift the flightlines to the north and away from us. ======================================================================== 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