Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 29, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1274 2424 2424 Osprey 2 19 19 Bald Eagle 3 30 30 Northern Harrier 34 159 159 Sharp-shinned Hawk 462 2536 2536 Cooper's Hawk 1 6 6 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1728 21792 21792 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 10 52 52 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 89 608 608 Merlin 1 21 21 Peregrine Falcon 2 23 23 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3606 27671 27671 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Mark Hainen Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: If your EKG looked like a graph of the wind strength and direction today you would be on a gurney headed to the OR. The predictions were for mild winds from NE to start and maybe add a little eastern flavor in the afternoon. They got the first part right but then it got crazy with the wind shifting one hundred and eighty degrees to SW, then ninety degrees to NW, then one hundred and twenty degrees back to S and then nearly doubling in strength. Fortunately, the winds were still fairly mild and the birds paid little attention. They adjusted their flight lines as necessary as it was a moving day. Temperatures reached seventy degrees from a starting point in the fifties. Eventually we ended up under the blue dome again but there was a very helpful garland of clouds festooned in the perfect position on the sunny side in the morning. The backdrop of white and gray helps us pick out the high-flying birds much easier. The barometer was almost steady with a slight dip later in the day, but always around thirty inches. Raptor Observations: It was a respectable day considering that we are probably facing a nearly bare cupboard in the broadwing department. Their numbers have probably seen their peaks and will continue to decline. We tabulated one thousand, seven hundred and twenty- eight today. We had several kettles during the day but a lot of them were mixed species with turkey vultures who are also inclined to travel in social groups. TV’s are coming in bigger groups now and their numbers should increase into October. Today, we saw one thousand, two hundred and seventy-four. We noted two ospreys passing through, although our local one seems content to stay with us a little longer. Three bald eagles hit the clicker. One Cooper’s hawk was observed. Sharpies came in good numbers today with our best day of the year for that species with four hundred and sixty-two. Ten red-tailed hawks were seen flying high with the broad-wings and vultures. The kestrels had a very good day with eighty-nine. One merlin, seemingly in the perpetual rage that only they possess, raced by. Two late peregrines were seen. We had an excellent (for us) day for northern harriers with thirty-four hitting the turnstiles. Non-raptor Observations: It was another fairly quiet day on the non-raptor front. The blue jays continue to pass by, but today’s number did not match yesterdays by any means. We were seeing some groups of blackbirds pass by in the morning. Forster’s terns must have another roosting spot nearby since they seem to be irregular visitors but they were back today along with a pair of Caspian terns. Monarchs were few and far between. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be almost a carbon copy (I’m dating myself there) of what today was supposed to look like. Favorable mild winds from the NE, maybe going to ENE, but in low single digits. What’s not to like? It should be mostly sunny with some late clouds possibly developing. Temperatures will do a similar climb to seventy degrees. I would expect similar results to today’s movement if the birds are still willing. It’s unusual to have three days of favorable winds since southerly winds are actually our most prevalent wind at this time of year. Looking ahead, after a period of rain on Sunday, there will be similar wind directions next week, albeit much stronger. That would tend to favor our Canadian colleagues or Pte Mouille, but time will tell. The look will be much different with more cloud cover forecast and the temperatures dropping, with the northern winds, to highs just over sixty degrees. There will be about a twenty percent chance of rain during the week. ======================================================================== 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-2021