Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 18, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1004 65797 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 0 8 73 Northern Harrier 0 15 390 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 34 5871 Cooper's Hawk 0 13 80 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 116 449 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 1163 4172 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 12 29 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 0 7 75 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 62 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 0 2376 145348 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Sarah deGuise Visitors: The birds that were on the move today were tundra swans. They flew by, sometimes in their classic Vee formation, but more often in smaller groups of threes and fours at low altitudes. This was unusual for them as we usually see them high against a blue sky, rather than broken up into small groups down closer to the ground. We did hear their familiar call a number of times; alerting us to their presence before we could see the white birds against a dirty gray sky. A large choir of Canada geese flew by making dissonant noises, as is their wont. Fairly quiet otherwise, the duck hunter’s guns occasionally breaking the relative peace. Weather: Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Based on that pithy observation from a true genius, we decided not to push the envelope and called the watch early after three hours of zero birds. Our sanity is somewhat suspect anyway since we sit outside for a quarter of the year in all types of weather. You don’t have to be crazy to do what we do, but it helps. Today had “No” written all over it from the start. The winds continued from the western end of things with increased vigor today. Always blowing in double digit speeds and headed upward, it kept any traffic well away from us. The temperatures were at the freezing point and ice on the marsh waters was proof that the readings were correct. Light snow flew multiple times and our vison was somewhat obscured due to atmospheric conditions. We had the occasional glimpse through a small blue porthole but even darker clouds soon closed that off. The barometer stayed just above thirty inches, although the look of the sky said it should probably have been lower than that. Thankfully, we are spared the lake effect snows that are burying some communities today. We did, however, pick up an NFL football game to be played here in Detroit due to those same snows. Raptor Observations: “Nothin’ from nothin’ leaves nothin’ “-Billy Preston Non-raptor Observations: The birds that were on the move today were tundra swans. They flew by, sometimes in their classic Vee formation, but more often in smaller groups of threes and fours at low altitudes. This was unusual for them as we usually see them high against a blue sky, rather than broken up into small groups down closer to the ground. We did hear their familiar call a number of times; alerting us to their presence before we could see the white birds against a dirty gray sky. A large choir of Canada geese flew by making dissonant noises, as is their wont. Fairly quiet otherwise, the duck hunter’s guns occasionally breaking the relative peace. Predictions: Tomorrow has similar characteristics to today, only worse. The wind will be blowing from the SW between fifteen and twenty mph. The temperatures will be below freezing; in the low twenties at the start of the watch, and staying in the twenties all day. Skies will remain cloudy, although no precipitation is expected during the watch hours. The barometer will bump up a little overnight. This does not have any positive signs and I would expect a truncated watch again tomorrow since the winds will move any migrants well off to the north. ======================================================================== 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-2022