Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 26, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 5 4110 59913 Osprey 0 2 26 Bald Eagle 0 14 81 Northern Harrier 2 26 379 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 163 6567 Cooper's Hawk 0 11 50 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 171 489 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 12 1994 3609 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 4 Golden Eagle 0 46 61 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 17 66 Peregrine Falcon 0 14 70 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 19 6571 94357 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Frank Kitakis, Rosemary Brady Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: Momma said there’d be days like this. The thermometer never rose above freezing, the wind never dropped below the mid-teens in mph. Coming from the NW and bringing cold air it was a little too strong for our site and our insulation to handle. The clouds were plentiful, and heavily laden to the eye, dropping some light graupel from time to time. At times, the tumultuous scene was straight out of the Ten Commandments and one might have expected Charlton Heston to appear and cleave the Frank and Poet Drain in front of us. The barometer stayed above thirty inches despite the gloomy atmosphere. We had a moment of partial clearing that gave us hope that the flight would begin in earnest but it was short-lived and full dark cloud cover soon returned. Raptor Observations: This day looked like it had more potential a few days ago when partly cloudy skies were predicted. The complete cloud cover with precipitation evident in the distance at times was not to the birds liking. We managed only twelve red-tailed hawks, well spread out during the day. Five turkey vultures made the trek, fighting the headwinds all the way. Our moment of hope came with two gray ghost male harriers flying together in our direction. Usually, one day a season, we have a good gray ghost day when the males all seem to come at once. I suppose today was that day but the numbers were disappointing. Non-raptor Observations: Our usual gulls: ring-billed, herring and Bonaparte’s were all playing their usual roles today. Ducks were plentiful on the lake as the numbers seem to be building up again. A great blacked-back gull was seen briefly by Celeron Island. Hooded mergansers were noted racing by in a small group in front of us. Our local eagles seemed active today, chasing and calling to each other. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be similar to today with full overcast skies for the first half the day. The afternoon will produce some measurable snow as the barometer will plunge again. Temperatures will be slightly above freezing. Winds will switch from SW to SE during the day but be less than today’s tempest. Nothing to like in this forecast, unless you like snow. ======================================================================== 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