Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 14, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1509 27270 34554 Osprey 0 1 15 Bald Eagle 2 15 46 Northern Harrier 9 59 291 Sharp-shinned Hawk 41 796 3672 Cooper's Hawk 1 18 42 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 40 43 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 365 546 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 2 7 7 American Kestrel 11 109 864 Merlin 0 13 38 Peregrine Falcon 0 20 42 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: 1580 28741 107510 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen 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: “A high wind blustered round the house, and roared in the chimney: it sounded wild and stormy, yet it was not cold, and we were all together.'' Emily Bronte managed to capture the essence of the watch today as once again huge masses of air were on the move. It wasn’t the heights that was subject to wuthering today but our site at Lake Erie Metropark. After listening to an increasing roar in the trees behind us, when we departed, the road out was littered with fallen debris from the punishment that the trees had absorbed. Temperatures reached just over the sixty-degree mark. The barometer was tailing off as another batch of potential rain lurks to the west of us. Winds were varying around the southern direction with a little western accent thrown in from time to time. It Increased during the day to the point that the otherwise decent flow of turkey vultures was pushed to the limits of our vision and beyond. The haze would simply swallow them whole at times. Top speeds were over fifteen miles per hour but the gusts may have doubled that towards the end of the day. Raptor Observations: Most of the birds went by on the northern side today as they were pushed that way by the relentless wind. It was interesting to see just how much they were moving sideways as the occasional bird flew directly at us, or rather, tried to fly directly at us as the wind coming across the open lake is much stronger than the onshore winds. They would start in our direction but end up out of photo range well to the north. Turkey vultures carried the day with 1,509 counted as they rocked by. Who else but sharpies placed second in the count with 41 making the tally board. Kestrels were few and far between with 11 counted today. The northern harrier count benefited from the wind as they were blown up our way with 9 being observed. Only 4 red-tails were noted, their big days are yet to come. A single red-shouldered hawk was observed. We had 2 apiece of eagles today, with two bald and two goldens flying by. The goldens were off to the north but their half-white tails and wing spots gave them away. A single Cooper’s hawk was also noted, although our local bird is frequently seen on patrol. The count tapered off as the winds increased and the birds were pushed further north into the haze. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans made another foray into our neighborhood today with large numbers showing up. A single crow was noted at the very end of the watch so we still await the start of their migration in larger numbers. The swallows went forth and multiplied today and were plentiful in our sight. More small fights of ducks are starting to be seen, whether local birds practicing drafting, or migrants, is hard to determine. Some large lines of cormorants went by today. Small numbers of blue jays could still be seen. Two monarchs managed to fly by. I am always amazed by their ability to handle significant winds with few apparent issues. Predictions: Tomorrow, the wind will not have a sharp increase during the day. Instead, it will start around fifteen mph and stay there, dropping just after the normal hours for the watch. The barometer is shown as rebounding from its low and climbing three tenths of an inch during Saturday. These transitions are sometimes difficult to time so things may not go exactly as projected. The temperatures will be more like the college football temps you expect in mid-October, topping fifty degrees but not sixty. Some clouds will stick around allowing sun to penetrate, but this is always where the forecast is a crapshoot and sometimes unreliable. The wind should have more westerly overtones tomorrow and sometimes that isn’t a bad wind but fifteen mph is still significant so we will have to see how the birds adapt. ======================================================================== 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