Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 08, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 4699 15576 22851 Osprey 1 1 15 Bald Eagle 1 8 39 Northern Harrier 3 28 259 Sharp-shinned Hawk 73 497 3373 Cooper's Hawk 0 12 36 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 38 41 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67299 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 18 313 494 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 2 4 4 American Kestrel 4 41 795 Merlin 4 9 34 Peregrine Falcon 2 12 33 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: 4809 16567 95273 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen 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: Although early on we had some moments of solid stratus clouds for a short time, followed by high cirrocumulus clouds, the sky was eventually populated by titanium white cumulus clouds giving each other lots of elbow room. It had nothing in common with the dark dungeon-like atmosphere of yesterday’s watch. The wind, however, had a similar urgency today, albeit coming from a different direction. At first WSW and eventually settling in a western home, the wind spiked up to fifteen mph, creating whitecaps on the lake, before falling a little as the watch was ending. In our tree-sheltered enclave we felt little of the wind’s effects but it was obvious from watching the birds fly and our species count that it was doing some damage. The barometer retreated a little each hour during the day, dropping over a tenth of an inch to 30.19. The temperature reached the mid-fifties mark and was tolerable with little wind hitting us. The sun’s warmth, when available, made a big difference in our comfort. Raptor Observations: The turkey vultures did the heavy lifting today, as is expected in October. Surprisingly, they seemed to enjoy the western wind and the routes they took actually made them easier to count today. Due to tree growth in our viewing lanes, it’s often a game of hide and seek with this species. Today, when streaming, they stayed high enough to see clearly, if you discount some of the haze from the lake. We stayed late and did a little OT today as they were still coming. We ended with a total of 4,699. A very distant second was the sharp-shinned hawk with 73 counted. These birds tailed off towards the end of the watch as the wind increased. Red-tailed hawks numbered 18 today. This is a species that was probably blown off course by the wind and their numbers suffered. Falcons were present today with 4 American kestrels, 4 merlins and 2 peregrine falcons. Two golden eagles were observed at a distance escorting a flight of turkey vultures. Only 2 red-shouldered hawks were seen today, another species that probably rode the wind up to Elizabeth Park. One osprey was seen, probably wondering where all its friends had gone. The young birds take some time to learn the game. One bald eagle was also noted. Non-raptor Observations: The huge swarms of swallows continued today with very large numbers seen working low over the lake. Pelicans made multiple appearances but in lesser numbers than have been seen in the past. Blue jays are still moving but it seems that their peak movement may have passed. Yellow-rumped warblers seemed to show a lot of interest in the small maple shedding its leaves next to us, visiting multiple times during the day. A line of brown-headed cowbirds flew by but little other movement of blackbirds was seen. The great egrets were back in force in the marsh this morning as we passed by while driving in. Predictions: The cold weather is not going to last as long as predicted with temperatures climbing back up to seventy degrees over the course of the next few days. Tomorrow should be about ten degrees warmer than today reaching the mid-sixties. Skies should be partly cloudy. The barometer will give back some more of its gains, although still remaining above 30 inches. Winds will still be fairly robust from the WSW, hovering around the ten-mph mark, give or take. Fairly similar conditions to today so possibly similar results. Hopefully, the turkey vultures will follow the same routes as today and some of the buteos will ignore the winds and follow them. ======================================================================== 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