Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 18, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 82 250 250 Osprey 0 10 10 Bald Eagle 1 17 17 Northern Harrier 7 74 74 Sharp-shinned Hawk 44 711 711 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 4643 9595 9595 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 85 85 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 16 220 220 Merlin 0 8 8 Peregrine Falcon 3 7 7 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: 4803 10980 10980 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Michala Burke, Rosemary Brady 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 relentless wind out of the NE continued today, saving some energy for the later hours as it built during the day from an already healthy start. In the early hours, the tops of the cumulus clouds over the lake were brightly lit and well defined indicating a less hazy atmosphere and better viewing in that direction. The strength of the wind continued to push hard on any soaring birds so that even with better conditions we were at the limit of viewing for the lake bound broad-wings. The sky gradually filled with large cotton candy clouds and at times resembled a Constable painting although the cold biting wind dispelled any notions of Romanticism. The sky gradually cleared towards the end of day but the sparse population of clouds was matched by the number of raptors. The barometer ended as it had started at 30.3”, steady as a rock. Raptor Observations: We had another disappointing day when all the results were tallied. Although we could count the distant broad-wings in the early hours the later hours were mostly empty except for a few that braved the wind to reach us. We ended up with five thousand, one hundred and ninety three on the day although we received reliable reports of thirteen thousand, six hundred and four from the Pointe Mouille vantage point. We counted one bald eagle. Seven harriers were seen winging their way through. Seven, mostly young, red-tails were seen passing through. Kestrels numbered sixteen on the day and filling out the falcon contingent were three peregrine falcons seen high in the sky, as were most of the raptors today. One hundred forty turkey vultures rocked through today. They seem to be gathering in larger groups but no large kettles yet, just a steady flow of low numbers. Forty four sharp-shins battled their way through the wind past our site. Non-raptor Observations: The blue jays continue to desert Canada in increasing numbers with flocks numbering in the hundreds. Nearly all the other birds today were neck stretching high including the gulls and swallows. Even the cormorants that chose to soar were well up there. It was a hard day searching for raptors and left little time for other observations. Predictions: The forecast for tomorrow looks more comfortable, as well as promising, as the wind will have lost some of its teeth dropping to around five mph. It will still be out of the NE quadrant in the early hours developing a more easterly component later but more benign and possibly beneficial to our location. Hopefully the week’s mass movement is not completed and the broad-wings will continue to fly. There are plenty more birds out there to be counted and fingers crossed that we can see them from our little plot of earth. Cheers! Andrew S. ======================================================================== 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