Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 06, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 1 1 1 Bald Eagle 0 0 0 Northern Harrier 1 8 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 4 4 Cooper's Hawk 2 2 2 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 7286 7299 7299 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 10 29 29 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 47 52 52 Merlin 1 3 3 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 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: 7353 7399 7399 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa 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: Some variant of the NE wind is usually our most bountiful but sometimes it requires patience to reap the harvest, such was today. The thick gray cloud cover that had persisted for the last few days stayed with us for the beginning of the watch and through the morning hours. Photographers would say that this wasn’t “bad light” it was “good dark”. Eventually the day began to lighten around midafternoon. The, by then white, stratus clouds started to develop fissures in the solid cover allowing the sun to pierce through scattered blue portholes and lifting our spirits after the deep gloominess of the previous two days. As the clouds dissipated , blue was the dominant color for a couple of hours but then the menacing gray clouds starting gathering again leaving us at day’s end back where we had started. Fortunately, the birds took advantage of the window to pass through our neighborhood in good numbers. Winds stayed near the NNE direction for most of the day with slight variances; the speed in the high single digits until easing off the pedal near the end of the day. Temperatures were in the high sixties until after noon when they rose to the mid-high seventies. The wind from the northerly direction kept us with an additional layer on until the last hour. The barometer stubbornly stayed at 30.1 inches with some minor variations. Raptor Observations: We were at the end of our normal operating hours when a kettle of broadwings was spotted over “Three Trees”. It turned out that this was the tip of the proverbial iceberg and there were many more to come. Perhaps these birds had been waiting in Canada for the weather to clear and it took them some time to arrive at our observation point, regardless, they kept on coming. Broadwings can be the most exhilarating of the raptors but they are hard work at times. Taking numerous streaming avenues at different heights of flight, they can be like watching ants from the top of a building, very small and very elusive. You have to search the whole sky to make sure that they haven’t sprung a leak elsewhere. We ended with 7,286 birds with nothing to indicate that they were approaching during normal watch hours. We had seen a few birds during the day but until the dam broke, we were in the doldrums. Kestrels seem to come with the broadwings and we ended with 47 counted. Along with one merlin and one peregrine falcon, we managed the falcon hat-trick. We had our first sharp-shinned hawk today and ended with 4 on the day. It’s possible that there were more with the broad-wings but it can be difficult to separate them out at high altitudes when counting, and counting, and counting. Two Cooper’s hawks completed our accipiter haul. One northern harrier made an appearance during the afternoon rush hour. We ended the day with 10 red-tailed hawks, many flying along with the broadwings, but usually a little lower in the sky. We counted one osprey during the watch. Non-raptor Observations: A mixed bag of swallows, swifts and purple martins were terrorizing the insect population during all the hours that we stayed today. A pair of cedar waxwings were briefly contributing as well. Our local kingfisher made a flyover, assuming that the dark conditions early on would protect him from photographic capture, smart thinking. Mute swans were present this morning out by Celeron Island. They seem to congregate there in moderate numbers at this time of year. A pair of sandhill cranes were seen flying in formation from afar. The monarchs were moving today as they seem to like to keep the broadwings company, perhaps they enjoy the same winds. Predictions: A mostly sunny day with northerly winds is predicted tomorrow. Winds will be in the 5-mph range which is not too strong and not too light. Temperatures are going to rise to the high seventies. The barometer will be stuck at 30.1 again. It’s probably too much to ask for a repeat of today but it’s probably too much to expect us not to ask. Hopefully, the pipeline has filled its gaps and the flow of birds will continue. ======================================================================== 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