Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 04, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 3 11 11 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 42 83 83 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 15 15 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 7 7 Merlin 1 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 1 2 2 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 54 120 120 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jo Patterson Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Johannes Postma, Michelle Peregord Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site as we are eager to share the joys of hawk watching with one and all. Although there may be times in which we are all very busy and need alone-time to concentrate, those are the times that are most enjoyable for visitors as the skies are filled with migrating raptors. Weather: The remnants of last night’s cold front passage still remained in the early morning hours. Dull grey stratus clouds blocked the sun, but the rainy turmoil was past and the skies gradually began to lighten as the clouds broke up and were replaced, initially, by widely spaced cumulus clouds. There was a two-hour window in which the majority of the sky was blue. Then cumulus clouds began to multiply and take complete ownership of the space above us. Once again, a large dark bottomed cloud was becalmed above us until another breakup started to happen late in the watch. Temperatures peaked around sixty-six degrees, a big drop from yesterday. The winds were cool at first, coming from the north at near double-digit speeds with little sun to warm us. Speeds were variable, but generally easing throughout the day as the wind backed around to a more westerly direction. The two-hour window of sunlight coincided with NNW winds and our total bird traffic took place in those two hours. The barometer made a feeble attempt to rise but made little headway. 29.7 were the first three digits of the reading at the beginning and end of the watch. Raptor Observations: About 12:30 we started to see movement of broadwings that were taking the high road to South America. During the window of opportunity, we managed to count forty-two of them. Small kettles were the order of the day, but they were a little bigger than we had seen before. Seven red-tailed hawks passed over, also very high in the blue sky. Three northern harriers, one being mobbed by a merlin, took a lower flight line. The merlin was later seen hunting in the tree line. Another peregrine was spotted today. We are cautious counting these two species as they occasionally take up residence for a few days before moving on, leading to potential multiple sightings. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans were back, a life bird for Dina, one of our visitors. The flights were scattered all over, as usual, making a final total hard to fix, but about one hundred birds is a rough guess. Swallows were intermittently there in large numbers but as flak, they were mostly manageable. A Carolina wren provided the sound track for today’s watch. A few warblers were reported on the trail. A green heron came by to say Hi, but quickly lost its nerve and ran away. The local kingfisher actually sat on a nearby sign out in the open, but I only managed to get the shutter halfway down, as per usual with this bird. The Caspian and Forster’s terns seemed more active than usual so the fish must have been there today. During the morning hours in the darkness of the low stratus clouds, mallards seemed to be motivated to fly in bigger groups than we have seen before. We had multiple sightings of imposter hawks, immature gulls in dark livery, both ring-billed and herring, that really look a lot like raptors soaring till you get a better look. Predictions: Tomorrow’s weather may be a test of patience as the winds are predicted to top twenty mph from a non-favored direction, the dreaded southwest. The temperatures, which usually rise with that wind, will remain moderate at seventy-two degrees. The blessing is that the barometer will start to kick up in earnest and the following days may have some more favorable winds. I hope that some of the more persistent harriers and kestrels fly by but that may be only wishful thinking. The over/under bet will be pretty low tomorrow. ======================================================================== 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