Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 24 1250 1250 Osprey 1 19 19 Bald Eagle 0 25 25 Northern Harrier 0 109 109 Sharp-shinned Hawk 174 1701 1701 Cooper's Hawk 0 7 7 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 15629 15629 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 117 117 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 29 325 325 Merlin 4 12 12 Peregrine Falcon 1 12 12 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 233 19209 19209 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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: Somebody printed too many copies of this day. We faced the same pleasant weather for most folks but hard on people trying to find birds in a clear blue sky. The wind was low to begin the day but built to a respectable level from a southerly direction that affected our flight numbers later in the day. The clear blue sky was beginning to fill in later in the day, with high cirrus clouds at first, and more substantial lower clouds later. The wind was the overriding factor though; in the later afternoon hours it cleared the skies of birds regardless of the cloud cover. The barometer was not moving a lot but dropped about a tenth below 30”. Raptor Observations: We got out of the gate rather well this morning compared to the last few days in which we had either zero, or one, birds in the first hour. Today the sharpies were flying early and that early start propelled us to a total of one hundred seventy four on the day despite a slowdown in the last couple of hours. Only twenty four vultures were observed as they must be saving themselves for October. One osprey was noted. Today was a good day for falcons with one peregrine, four merlins and fifty four kestrels tallied. One nasty merlin, (is there any other kind?), was seen diving on a kestrel as they flew toward our position. This usually is a clue when trying to ID falcons, the mean one is the merlin. Non-raptor Observations: We could barely see the blue jays again today although they did still seem to be flying in numbers. The haze and wind direction conspired against us in that regard. The gulls did provide some entertainment in front of us today as the weekend fishermen were out and throwing back some small fish that did not meet their standards. The gulls do not practice catch and release. Our local kingfisher gave us a couple of flybys to his favorite perch. Otherwise a slow day on the non-raptor front as we had crowds at the park and lots of noise from boats and other sources. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be the day in which the weather will show signs of change. Cloud cover will increase; the barometer will continue to stay lower that recent days and the wind will be strong, in double digits, out of the SSW. There may be rain on Monday and this will be the prelude. Not a day that looks promising for our site but sharpies may still fly if we are lucky enough to see them. ======================================================================== 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: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285