Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 01, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 37 37 970 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 5 5 38 Northern Harrier 8 8 191 Sharp-shinned Hawk 89 89 2226 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 40 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 8 8 6756 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 1 56 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 3 3 282 Merlin 0 0 14 Peregrine Falcon 2 2 10 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 5 Unknown Buteo 2 2 15 Unknown Falcon 0 0 8 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 3 3 25 Total: 159 159 10652 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Michael Patrikeev Observers: Ben Sehl, Jo Patterson, Mark Hainen, Rosemary Brady Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metro Park. We are willing to spread the word with pamphlets and information cards, along with tips on raptors identification. Let us share our enthusiasm for this miracle of nature with you. Weather: Overcast in the morning, but breaks in the clouds appeared around 1 PM, and then mainly sunny by 3 PM. Southerly and southeasterly winds, weak at first, and picking up to 13 km/hr (8 miles per hour) in late afternoon. Temperature rose to +23C (73F) by 4 PM EDT. Raptor Observations: We ended up with a meager count of 159 birds, mainly Sharp-shinned Hawks (89). It was clearly not the day for soaring species, only 37 Turkey Vultures and 8 Broad-winged Hawks showed up at the count site, while the rest were held up elsewhere by the weak southerly winds. Adult Bald Eagles are moving through the area. Non-raptor Observations: Blue Jays, flying en masse, outnumbered migrating raptors 35 to one. Nonetheless, we saw fewer jays today, counting 5822 of them. A raft of 90-100 American Coots was spotted downstream. Predictions: A slight drop in temperature is expected tomorrow, but prevailing southerly winds will likely keep hawk numbers relatively low, except perhaps the Sharp-shinned Hawks. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (erika_vankirk@fws.gov) 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