Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 29, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1070 72585 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 18 73 Northern Harrier 0 37 421 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 129 5050 Cooper's Hawk 0 35 105 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 2 208 819 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 9 1622 4240 Rough-legged Hawk 0 19 27 Golden Eagle 0 37 55 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 14 67 Peregrine Falcon 0 8 102 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 13 3200 100629 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, 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: Today was supposed to be the penultimate day of the watch but given the rather discouraging forecast for tomorrow, I have feeling that our race may be run. Yesterday’s sunshine lasted into the first morning hour but soon thereafter icy swipes of Jack Frost’s brush appeared high in the sky with mare’s tails showing brilliant white offset against a deep blue sky. The sky progressed through several escalating threat levels with dark bottomed cumulus clouds eventually appearing for the mid-afternoon hour before they retreated, leaving high cirrus clouds. If you don’t like Michigan weather, just wait etc., etc. The barometer fell a tenth during the day, starting at 30.05”, ending at 29.95”. Not a dramatic fall but trending in the wrong direction for our purposes. Winds were working their way from WSW to the S and varying throughout the day but ending in the 10 mph range. Temperatures were in the high forties, a relatively balmy day for the end of November. Raptor Observations: Apparently the raptors are still sleeping off the tryptophan from Thanksgiving turkey. Although we were offering Cyber Monday specials we didn’t get many takers. Actually, the adverse winds and falling barometer may have had more to do with their absence. One unfamiliar looking, (by now we know most of the locals), bald eagle was counted. Only one sharp-shinned passed by. Two red-shouldered hawks were noted. Nine red-tailed hawks wandered through, taking their time soaring on the winds before streaming out. The highlight of the raptor day was seeing a pair of local eagles, er,… making whoopee on Celeron Island. Non-raptor Observations: The gulls were active today as the warm weather brought out the fishermen and discarded perch were floating on the water for them to retrieve. Ducks were seen in large numbers migrating off in the distance. Small flocks of passerines were flying over but we could not ID them. Predictions: When I got home today, I heard a neighbor warming up his snow blower. That probably tells you all you need to know about tomorrow. It looks like we are in for two days of a wintry mix of rain and snow. The barometer should bottom out around 29.67”. Winds will rise to near twenty mph from the NNW. We may have to sit this one out. ======================================================================== 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