Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 11, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 233 24248 31532 Osprey 0 1 15 Bald Eagle 0 13 44 Northern Harrier 5 47 279 Sharp-shinned Hawk 120 735 3611 Cooper's Hawk 2 17 41 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 39 42 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67320 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 3 358 539 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 5 5 American Kestrel 24 93 848 Merlin 2 13 38 Peregrine Falcon 1 18 39 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: 390 25615 104353 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Patrick Mulawa, Sarah deGuise 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: "They call the wind Maria". We had a few choice names for it today as it blew our birds over the horizon with no chance to count them. The day got off to a good start with lighter winds from SSW and good movement of sharpies but as the wind settled in the south and gained strength the birds tapered off drastically. The wind was heading towards fifteen mph in a determined fashion. It brought the heat with it as we reached the seventy-four-degree mark. The barometric pressure was at its highest level at the start of the watch and gradually declined the rest of day, foretelling the wet weather to come. Early clouds cleared completely for most of the day but altocumulus clouds started to stake their claims as the watch was coming to a close. Raptor Observations: Despite the direction of the wind, the early movement of sharpies gave us hope. They still were drafting the turkey vultures on the species count list thanks to two hours of more than 100 vultures. We ended with 233 TV’s, a far cry from the 5K count yesterday. The sharpies managed a 120-count. It was a respectable number for that species, more than we have had recently; including one valiant warrior crabbing into the wind that was the only bird of the last hour. Kestrels took third place with 24 counted. Northern harriers added 5 to our anemic total today. Our buteos continue to be scarce with only 3 red-tails spotted today. Cooper’s hawks and merlins numbered 2 each. A single peregrine falcon was noted. We had only five birds in the last two hours and it looks like even stronger winds are on the horizon from the same direction tomorrow. Non-raptor Observations: It seemed that someone had done some housecleaning as the sky was scrubbed clean of most birds today. We did see some pelicans flying out by the jetty but it was only about fifteen to twenty birds flying low. The gulls and swallows were no obstacle to our vison today, of course there was not much to see. We did see a few blue jays and more small flights of starlings flew by in the morning hours. Two monarch butterflies were noted among other interesting butterflies and perhaps a million small insects were dancing around us today. OK, a million may be understating it a little. The heat tends to bring insects to life that we had thought long gone. The swallows, of course, know otherwise. Predictions: Tomorrow does not look promising. Southern winds will start at ten mph and head towards twenty. The barometer will be plunging and rain is in the forecast but it may not fall during the watch hours. It will be cloudy and I suspect the birds may avoid this area, as if they had a choice with the winds pushing them away. The days following look to have very similar wind patterns of southern winds rising to fifteen mph during the course of the day. Tomorrow’s temperatures will drop to the high sixties. The next few days will continue to drop into the fifties despite the SW winds. Early next week looks to have some northern winds which should perhaps improve the count. ======================================================================== 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