Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 18, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 51 4011 52219 Osprey 0 0 35 Bald Eagle 0 15 93 Northern Harrier 3 74 339 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 249 4106 Cooper's Hawk 2 33 116 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 33 536 731 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 64336 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 254 3798 4656 Rough-legged Hawk 0 10 11 Golden Eagle 6 45 49 American Kestrel 0 4 702 Merlin 0 1 32 Peregrine Falcon 0 6 52 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 360 8783 127480 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady Visitors: Deanna and Johannes came by to look for golden eagles. Most of the birds today were distant, although a few buteos flew over in the morning hours. Deanna will have to wait for her National Geo golden shot. You have to pay your dues with those birds:) Weather: I must admit that today's forecast had me a little confused. Although we had light NE winds predicted the barometer was low (29.75"), yet it looked like an early spring day with bright blue skies and melting snow. If I was confused, the wind was even more so, meandering around the compass headings with little effort expended. We are apparently between systems in some sort of Bermuda Triangle situation. Ooooh that's scary... Raptor Observations: >From a very slow start we ramped up to a fairly decent day of movement in the late morning/early afternoon hours. The buteos were still on the move even with little wind to assist them. 254 red-tails and 33 red-shoulders kettled their way by. Turkey vultures came in at 51 specimens. Accipiters were represented by 11 sharp-shins and 2 Cooper's hawks. 3 harriers were observed. Another decent day for golden eagles with 6 seen working their way south. In the late afternoon hours the flight shut down with little seen in the last hour. Non-raptor Observations: Waterfowl were observed in the second hour of the watch migrating in long strings but this was short-lived. Fairly slow day for other species as the winds were light. We did see a pair of bald eagles at a great distance practicing their talon grabbing moves without actually grabbing. Predictions: Cloudy and cooler with light winds as we await the arrival of a well defined system. The barometer should have bottomed out by the time we get back on site and be rising during the watch. There seems to be a lot of raptor movement but whether we will catch it is hard to predict. Slightly favorable winds in the afternoon may bode well but...still scary. ======================================================================== 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: http://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-2019