Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1 2983 65220 Osprey 0 0 18 Bald Eagle 1 75 213 Northern Harrier 2 28 348 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 100 3496 Cooper's Hawk 0 44 119 American Goshawk 0 3 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 163 336 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 6785 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Red-tailed Hawk 2 1096 2027 Rough-legged Hawk 2 7 21 Golden Eagle 0 76 120 American Kestrel 0 1 410 Merlin 0 4 27 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 33 Unknown Accipiter 0 4 19 Unknown Buteo 0 19 50 Unknown Falcon 0 1 14 Unknown Eagle 0 4 7 Unknown Raptor 0 2 30 Total: 11 4615 79297 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Bill Peregord, Jo Patterson, Michelle Peregord, Rosemary Brady 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: Happy Thanksgiving to all you USA residents, and belated wishes to our Canadian contingent. Today was a truncated watch due to the nature of the day. A day to examine your life and find the diamonds in the rough, giving thanks for the positive things that you find. Of course, family connections are renewed, most of us thankful for the fact that this only happens on rare occasions during the course of the year. We had a window of opportunity today as a low-pressure area had moved through during the early morning hours, the imminent high-pressure area bringing a northern wind as a vanguard of its approach. Not our favored northeast wind, which we have seen little of this year, but with the rising barometer telling birds that it was safe to travel again, it was hoped that we would see a little traffic. It was a tale of two skies for the most part, mostly a gray stratus blanket at first, but off to the west, blue skies seem to be trying to make their way over to us. We did end up with windows in the loosely knit cumulostratus clouds so we were thankful for a little sunshine today. Winds were mostly northwest and growing in boldness during the watch. This was a prelude to about a week of western winds of ten mph or more. We seem to be seeing more of these stretches of week-long-same winds as the high-pressure areas seem to be growing larger and taking more time to pass disrupting migration. The barometer was rising, but only hundreds of an inch during the short watch. Temperatures were rising, but as the north wind takes over, the temps will fall with a colder week ahead in the forecast. Raptor Observations: At least we had variety, if not numbers. Two northern harriers were noted, one flying low over the water, as they are wont to do. Two seemed to be the number of the day as we also had two early red-shoulders, two red-tails, and two rough-legged hawks, one of each morph. A single sharp-shinned, bald eagle, and one turkey vulture rounded out the count. Non-raptor Observations: A common loon was spotted out in the direction of the big lake. Plenty of gulls were up in the sky, mostly ring-bills, with big herrings drawing our attention from time to time. Bonaparte’s gulls made brief appearances in small numbers from time to time. A red-bellied woodpecker undulated by. Mute swans flew by in a very small line. Great egrets were seen in the marshland on the way in but not in big numbers. Mallards, the default duck in our small corner of the world, were present but not seen in big numbers. Predictions: Westerly winds, in the ten to fifteen mph range, will prove challenging tomorrow, as the real-feel temps, as a direct result, will be in the lower twenties. Actual temps will be at the freezing mark. Snow showers are in the forecast for the morning hours, so as the Monty Python characters said when confronted by the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, it may be time to “Run away!” ======================================================================== 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