Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 09, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 4 19 19 Osprey 1 5 5 Bald Eagle 0 12 12 Northern Harrier 2 10 10 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 5 5 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 3 9 9 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 17 17 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 9 32 32 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 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: 24 111 111 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, 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: A day that looked promising on paper yesterday had a wet blanket thrown over it early today, literally. Foggy mist met us at the start of the watch, obscuring our view of some of our prominent landmarks such as The Stacks and Canada for example. The wind failed to build to any appreciable level to support movement although it came from a very good direction for the most part. The day lightened later in the morning hours and for a brief moment small patches of blue were visible. This seemed to encourage some movement but then another blanket was thrown on darkening the sky and day and causing the flight to dry up. The barometer was steady at 30.2” which normally would indicate dry blue skies but close to the front line the rules are bent and blue skies can be low pressure and cloudy can be high. We never saw the sun today and it was hard to even find where it was in the sky Raptor Observations: We did see some interesting raptors today, just not enough of them. Two kestrels flew out of the early fog together in the first hour, the first of nine total of that species. Five red-tails were tallied and three single broad-wings were observed. One high osprey was seen winging its way south. Two harriers pumped their way through. Four turkey vultures made the count. Non-raptor Observations: One common loon was seen dragging his feet to the north today. A few lesser yellowlegs were seen today including a pair that landed on the vegetation in front of us. A spotted sandpiper was seen seeking a place to land in the morning hours. One common nighthawk was observed later in the afternoon when the raptor flight had dried up. We were joined by a northern flicker and a small flock on red-winged blackbirds clearing the grass of insects. Lots of swallows flew into our area from time to time serving as avian flak that would have impeded our view had there been anything to see. Predictions: Here we go again. The winds seem to be more consistent tomorrow and increasing from the NNE. Barometer is in the go-zone. Skies are predicted to be cloudy. Hopefully, this will be a better day than today as the threat of precipitation seems much less than today. ======================================================================== 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