Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 03, 2025 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 62 1432 3513 Osprey 0 0 28 Bald Eagle 1 3 100 Northern Harrier 5 21 384 Sharp-shinned Hawk 49 188 3211 Cooper's Hawk 2 4 31 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 37 51911 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 23 169 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 2 American Kestrel 1 3 926 Merlin 1 1 34 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 33 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 1 Unknown Buteo 0 1 3 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 3 Total: 122 1718 60354 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Jo Patterson Observers: Jerry Jourdan Visitors: Huge thank you to GMAS, whose members helped out with the count today. 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: A hazy, azure-blue sky stretched overhead, and the drought-stressed leaves still stubbornly cling to their green color. Lake Erie shimmered in the sunlight as summer hung on, with temperatures nudging 80 degrees and a gentle southern breeze prevailing. The winds stayed light, never topping 5 mph, but their unhelpful direction—combined with a thickening haze—made spotting raptors a real challenge. Despite our best efforts, only vague, shadowy silhouettes appeared to the north, and the south was mostly empty of migrants. Raptor Observations: We got skunked in the first hour, and things didn’t improve much after that. Only three hours reached double digits, and we barely cracked triple digits for the day. An unimpressive flight of sixty-two Turkey Vultures took top honors, mostly gathered in three small kettles around noon. Later in the afternoon, two were spotted far to the north, a painful reminder that more were likely crossing the Detroit River closer to Wyandotte, out of our view—especially with the low visibility. Sharp-shinned Hawks did their best to keep us entertained, trickling by one at a time every few minutes, totaling forty-nine for the day. After a particularly long stretch of “sharpie, sharpie, sharpie,” the count turned into a game of “sharpie… sharpie… not sharpie.” The “not sharpie” list included five harriers, two coops, one Bald Eagle, one red-tail, one kestrel, and one Merlin. Non-raptor Observations: Common Terns, Caspian Terns, and Forster’s Terns fished the Trenton Channel. A local Cooper’s Hawk made a low pass, and the local Osprey was glimpsed by Celeron. Kinglets and warblers rustled about the shrubs. Blue Jays made a decent effort, with over two thousand counted; Monarchs, not so much, with only twenty-three. Predictions: Tomorrow doesn't look much more promising than today. The winds will remain out of the south, but higher velocities are predicted. Turkey Vultures may find any wind better than no wind and could make an appearance. Temperatures are set to top 80, and clouds are unlikely. At the very least, we can look forward to another round of the always-entertaining game: sharpie… sharpie… not sharpie. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jerry Jourdan (jerry.jourdan@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