Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 03, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 3166 5450 7178 Osprey 2 3 26 Bald Eagle 7 9 34 Northern Harrier 29 39 160 Sharp-shinned Hawk 284 575 2526 Cooper's Hawk 4 8 17 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 3 5 Broad-winged Hawk 217 328 15973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 21 37 162 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 69 87 471 Merlin 4 7 26 Peregrine Falcon 1 18 46 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3806 6565 26626 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs. If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: The sky was blue again in the start of the second day of a high pressure system that has rewarded us with large numbers of birds on both days. Today the winds were lighter and variable as the center of the high passed by. It was a similar day to yesterday in most respects as the day started blue and ended gray. Clouds multiplied during the later afternoon hours, although with a milder tone than yesterday’s change. The barometer hung in there at 30.2” falling very slightly during the day. Raptor Observations: The raptors seemed determined to get out of Dodge today and all you had to do was find a vein and mine it as some of the flyways were high and outside the norm. The variable winds were favorable to the viewing of turkey vultures in the morning hours, not so much later in the afternoon when the winds went S. We managed to harvest three thousand, one hundred and sixty six as a near constant flow in the morning hours kept us busy. Two ospreys were on the move along with seven bald eagles. The harriers chose to fly our way today with twenty nine making the clicker. The accipiters were busy today with two hundred and sixty four sharp-shins and four Cooper’s hawks on the trail. We were expecting to get buteos out of this weather and today was rewarding with two hundred and seventeen broad-winged hawks, twenty one red-tailed hawks and two red-shouldered hawks. Falcons were well represented by the kestrels for a change with sixty nine racing by. Joining them were four merlins and one peregrine. Non-raptor Observations: The highlight of the non raptor bird observations was ten American white pelicans seen over Celeron Island. The highlight of the non avian observations was the sight of a beaver swimming in front of us at the start of the watch. These are a relatively new addition to the Metropark and not often seen. Otherwise, it was a busy day searching for raptors and did not allow for much else. Despite that, the gulls made their presence known by running interference for the raptors late in the day providing a screen like a beaded curtain often obscuring the view. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be a rainout on paper with showers predicted all day and 100% cloud cover making for a dark and dreary day. Whether this actually comes to pass is anyone’s guess as rain has a way of dissipating as it approaches Lake Erie. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg (kevin.l.georg@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