Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 111 1597 49805 Osprey 0 0 35 Bald Eagle 1 7 85 Northern Harrier 0 4 269 Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 62 3919 Cooper's Hawk 0 2 85 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 67 262 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 64336 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 6 204 1062 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 2 Golden Eagle 0 3 7 American Kestrel 1 2 700 Merlin 0 0 31 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 49 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: 125 1952 120649 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Mark Hainen, Mark Hainen., Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady Visitors: If the visitors don't want to come to the site, nobody's going to stop them. (RIP Yogi Berra) Weather: High winds from the S to start the day had whitecaps dancing on the lake. The wind diminished during the day somewhat as it moved to the SW but still had a detrimental effect on the resolve of the raptors. Although we did not see much rain at the site until the final hour, it seemed that the Canadian peninsula that sends us our birds may have had more of it throughout the day. Barometer dropped just below 30" and stayed steady afterwards. Raptor Observations: A very slow day with no birds for the final two hours and we cut short the day by an hour when light rain started to fall. 111 turkey vultures were seen lifting off over Canada but most were not seen again as the winds pushed them away. 6 sharp-shins fought the winds to make the crossing. 6 red-tailed hawks also got tossed around in the turbulent air. The close bunching of these birds made us think that perhaps they had spent the night closeby. 1 brave kestrel showed off for us and sped by at a very high rate of speed. 1 juvenile bald eagle finished up the count. Non-raptor Observations: We had a pleasant start to the day in which we were centered in a whirling mass of tree swallows chasing bugs that none of us could see. They seemed oblivious to our presence as they imitated electrons in the outer shell with us as the nucleus. Several common loons were spotted out on the lake along with a few horned grebes bobbing up and down in the waves. No tundra swans were spotted today as the skies were nearly barren. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be a much better day, but that is not saying much. The barometer will be climbing with winds from the W in double digits. 75% cloud cover is predicted. Winds from the west are not the best but neither are they the worst. I would expect to see some buteos tomorrow. Always hoping for goldens and rough-legs too. ======================================================================== 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