Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 03, 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 4 8 8 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 0 41 41 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 8 8 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 2 7 7 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 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: 7 66 66 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Erika Van Kirk, Jerry Jourdan 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: A pleasant day visually, but for hawk counting, meh. Although some of the local birds seemed to enjoy the brisk winds in the afternoon portion of the watch, the skies were scoured clean of broadwings by a surging southern wind that grew to fifteen mph by day’s end. The skies were clear to begin with. The first signs of change were high cirrus wisps that were later gradually obscured somewhat by lower cumulus formations, a few of which, at times, had an appearance similar to lenticular clouds. It was obvious the winds aloft were moving along in a hurry too. The temperatures were just above eighty by the end of the watch, but once again we were fortunate to have enough leakage through the windbreak of trees behind us to stay comfortable. Although the weather station said southwest, the windmills and the whitecaps on the lake seemed to say south, or southeast. Not the first time that we have had that discrepancy. The barometer was falling fast as change is on the way. Rain is expected this evening and possibly through the morning hours as a cold front on the back side of the low approaches. Raptor Observations: The harriers were playing hide and seek today, seeking shelter in the lee of the tree lines. This isn’t unusual for this species but it makes finding them a little more difficult for my species. We managed to spot four of them, one a gray ghost. A couple of kestrels were also spotted fighting the winds. Speaking of fighting, the last bird of the day was a peregrine falcon spotted over Celeron Island repeatedly diving below the tree line out of our sight. It wasn’t until we saw two adult bald eagles take off from behind the trees that we understood why. It continued to harass one of them across the sky before calming its rage and almost kiting into the wind. Non-raptor Observations: Two downy woodpeckers made an appearance in the small maple tree next to our picnic table. Our first-year local osprey managed to snag a young long-nosed gar from the slip in front of us. No swimming eagles were spotted today, but we did have another flight of approximately seventy pelicans make an appearance. A local red-tailed hawk was kiting and stooped on some undetermined object. The swallow-type birds were not abundant today but were present in small numbers. A flicker was working in the grass behind our location. Two killdeer, imitating kestrels in looks and manner of flight in the strong winds, were up taking the airs today. Caspian and Forster’s terns are present, but in very small numbers. The cormorants were massing today over what we presume to be a school of shad, the ever-opportunistic gulls keeping them company. Thirty-five monarchs made the bumpy trip today. Not their favorite wind either... Predictions: Tomorrow’s weather is guaranteed to be cooler, as a cold front is nigh upon us as I write. The rest is not guaranteed. The winds will still be fairly robust and from a good direction… for Holiday Beach. The back side of lows can be difficult to predict as the weather may look different throughout the day, it often rains and then is sunny just a few minutes later, although it looks like the rain should have gone through by the start of the watch tomorrow. It’s still early days so the traffic is light anyway, the sharpies have not started in earnest yet. Friday looks like another roller coaster ride as the winds are predicted to reach above the twenty-mph mark on the anemometer. ======================================================================== 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