Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 350 350 65143 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 0 0 65 Northern Harrier 1 1 376 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 3 5840 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 68 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 18 18 351 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 167 167 3176 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 1 18 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 1 1 69 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 60 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: 542 542 143514 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Patrick Mulawa 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: Most things went according to plan today as far as weather goes. The initial cloud cover that greeted us was soon shown the door by a well-defined delineation of blue sky that made for a rather abrupt change. A few cumulus clouds wandered lonely during the day but essentially it was a clear blue sky. Clear of clouds that is, the atmosphere was hazy, causing birds to appear to appear out of thick air with no warning and occasionally retreat back behind the curtain. The temperature did reach the sixty-seven-degree mark which is about twenty degrees above the November average. Of course, November back-loads with cold weather in most years. The winds were once again indecisive as to strength and direction starting north and ending south, traveling through the western side of the compass with occasional bursts of slightly higher speed but nothing of any consequence. Raptor Observations: Our first two hours left us with goose eggs on the clicker and during the rest of the day it never really felt that we were in the midst of the action. The shifting winds were never really favorable to our site and although we ended with a fair number of birds, it seemed that we were just catching the edge of a larger movement that was passing to the north. We ended the day with turkey vultures on the top of the pile with 350 black and silver paper airplanes wobbling by. Red-tailed hawks were forming kettles that appeared out of the haze but when they streamed in profile they were hard to find. We did find 167 of them. Red-shouldered hawks kept them company with 18 of them showing their crescents. It was slim pickings for the rest of the species, with only 3 sharp-shins, and a single representative of harriers, Cooper’s hawks, merlins and golden eagles being counted. The last hour when the wind went south seemed to kill the flight for us. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans are back! We hadn’t seen them in our neck of the woods for some time so it was a surprise to see about thirty-five of them flying in formation. Occasional flocks of blackbirds flew by, and one noisy flock of rusty blackbirds stayed briefly in the trees behind us. Our little band of Bonaparte’s gulls are still working the slip, flying low over the water and dropping on their prey. Great egrets and yellowlegs are still working the shallows of the marsh. Large strings of ducks can be seen in the eastern sky. Predictions: Tomorrow looks similar to today with temps a little cooler, mostly clear blue skies, and high pressure on the barometer. Winds will again be very light and will do another switcheroo from north to south by day’s end. The winds will probably determine our fate again. It looks like the afternoon winds will be from the southern end of things and that may not be our best wind. On gentle winds the birds tend to kettle more and drift wherever it may take them. Today, nearly every bird passed to the north of us, a lot of them at the limit of visibility. Tomorrow may be the same. ======================================================================== 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