Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 23, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1008 65801 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 3 12 78 Northern Harrier 0 15 390 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 39 5876 Cooper's Hawk 2 18 85 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 131 464 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 1199 4208 Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 2 Golden Eagle 3 18 35 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 0 9 77 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: 20 2454 145427 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Rosemary Brady, Sarah deGuise Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: As predicted, today followed yesterday’s script closely. Temperatures were not quite as high but still a respectable forty-eight degrees at their peak. Winds were up and down in strength but stayed mostly from the south. Most of the time the winds were below 5 mph. The barometer dropped slightly during the day, but nothing of consequence. Even tomorrow, when rain is expected late in the evening, the barometer should stay around 30 inches or just below. The only cloud in the sky today was an aggregation of aircraft contrails that slowly spread a thin white patina over the sky as it dissipated. I’d like to take a moment to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow; we will not take to the battlefield so that we may celebrate with you. Raptor Observations: An uneven day as most of our birds came in two hours separated by an hour with no birds. This may have been due to slight wind changes that did not seem significant to us, yet may have altered the flight paths of the birds. Red-tailed hawks led the way with 5 counted. Red-shoulders came close behind with 4 specimens taken. The rest of the species were close behind with 3 bald eagles, 3 golden eagles, (two of which, kettled with an adult balk eagle for a few minutes) Sharp-shins came by 3 times today and their bigger brother, the Cooper’s hawk, was noted twice. Non-raptor Observations: A lot of the birds that had moved into our cove over the last few days of inclement weather had moved out this morning. The numerous Bonaparte’s gulls had seemingly moved on to bluer pastures. We had been scouting those birds for little gulls, who are known associates with Bonaparte’s. Since nearly all of them were gone today it seemed unlikely to see a little gull, yet one flew right in front of us as we scanned the sky in vain for raptors in the later afternoon. This was a handsome adult with the distinctive dark underside to the wings. Smaller than the boney with a shorter straighter bill, it also has a wing that is differently shaped. They are similar enough to easily overlook them in a large group of Bonaparte’s. Thousands of ducks were migrating today in long strings off in the northeastern sky. A few tundra swans were seen flying this morning, but low in the sky as if they had already decided to overwinter here. Cattail seeds, it was determined that it was not the phragmites that were filling the skies, continue to fly. Predictions: Tomorrow looks somewhat similar to today with rain possibly falling later in the evening. Winds will remain low in strength and from a direction that starts with S but may have a couple more letters attached for the sake of accuracy. Cloud cover should increase during the day. Friday might be interesting as the winds turn around and come from the north on the backside of the rain system. ======================================================================== 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