Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 02, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 0 0 Northern Harrier 0 1 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 1 1 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 5 5 5 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 11 13 13 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 7 11 11 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 1 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 1 1 1 Total: 26 33 33 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Erika Van Kirk, Mark Hainen, Michael Patrikeev Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie MetroPark. We are willing to spread the gospel with pamphlets and information cards, along with tips on IDing the raptors, and photography tips for those behind the cameras. Let us share our enthusiasm for this miracle of nature with you. Weather: The wind graph today resembled one of Wall Street’s more volatile days with peaks and valleys as the high-pressure area forced its way into our neighborhood. These are the winds that bring birds and the transition was beneficial, to some, but our luck has been stuck in one of those valleys. The winds finally diminished a little and settled in a more favorable nor-easterly direction in the mid-afternoon hours but the results, although better than yesterday, were still meager. Wind strengths were gusty and stayed in the double-digit range, despite the ups and downs. The barometer did top out at 30.3 inches and the sky, almost all blue at the start of the day, became sparsely populated with seemingly unmotivated cumulus clouds of minor stature. The temperatures were knocking on seventies door but could not quite break that barrier; coupled with the NE winds, it was T-shirt plus one, if you are keeping track of layers. A pleasant late summer day, unless your intent was to count migrating raptors. Raptor Observations: The winds were diverting most of the migrants off our highway and to lesser traveled roads the last two days. Although we saw pairs of kestrels, most birds were singularities, hard to pick out as they came directly toward us from the Celeron Island area in the afternoon hours. We did manage to do better but this day will not go into our memoirs. Eleven red-tails took the prize. The kestrels are moving but not into our area so far, with seven managing to defeat the winds. Five broad-wings made the effort, our first of the season, and one sharpie, also our first rounded out the list. Non-raptor Observations: The cedar waxwings were very busy today hustling after a hatch that for the most part we could not see. They seemed oblivious to our presence at times, being laser-focused on their prey and flying very close to us. Cormorants were up in small groups, sometimes soaring on the ample winds, but with other chevrons flying as if migrating already. I suspect they will begin to congregate in larger numbers before long. Various swallows and martins are busy scouring the sky of biomass, at times in enough numbers to interfere with our sightlines. We did receive some reports of warblers and vireos on the trails. A small flock of indeterminate shorebirds was seen rapidly flying by. The terns, both Forster’s and Caspian’s, seemed a little less active today, perhaps waiting for a calmer day. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be similar to today, absent the winds. They are predicted to drop below five mph with an eastern flavor, starting from ENE but ending at SE. The barometer will remain high in the 30.3-inch range. Sunny skies will prevail so the predicted 71 degrees should be comfortable. Hopefully, we should get a few more birds tomorrow as the kestrels and harriers will not be blown out towards the lake as much as the past two days. ======================================================================== 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