Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 13, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 6 6 Osprey 0 3 3 Bald Eagle 0 11 11 Northern Harrier 2 20 20 Sharp-shinned Hawk 31 499 499 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 3 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 30 12555 12555 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 79 79 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 3 137 137 Merlin 1 8 8 Peregrine Falcon 1 6 6 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: 73 13327 13327 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Alex Gilford, Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, 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: The low-pressure area that spun around us like a carousel yesterday took its sweet time in moving out. The barometer reading was actually lower this morning than yesterday afternoon. It became to climb in small increments throughout the day. On the outer perimeter of the carousel there were rain squalls that wet our local area overnight in scattered spots and at the start of the watch had taken up a position in the Canadian peninsula that the birds migrate through. The winds were NW most of the day until going to the west in midafternoon. The day was an attractive fall day with cotton-ball cumulus clouds in a blue setting in good numbers by days end. Temperatures seemed to vary with the amount of sun that made it past those barriers. Shade meant jacket on, sun, jacket off. The winds were cooler coming from the north, making a big difference in that regard. On a personal note, I shall be taking a few days off to attend a college reunion. It pains me to leave at this time of year but I have no input in regards to scheduling. My alma mater, the United States Merchant Marine Academy will be taking on SUNY Maritime College. The recently deceased Capt. Joseph Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez is their most infamous graduate. The Kelly twins of astronaut fame split their allegiance with one attending Kings Point, the other Ft. Schuyler, as the schools are more commonly known. But I digress….. Raptor Observations: It didn’t look good on paper at the beginning of the day and doesn’t look too impressive at the end of the day with a total of seventy-three birds counted. It seemed that when the wind went to the west in the afternoon, we started to see more birds but most were very high in the sky. During the day, the birds that stayed low were being buffeted as the wind mass was redirected by the trees. Sharpies and kestrels seem to be the birds that are most affected. We counted thirty-one sharpies and three kestrels today. We did achieve the falcon hat-trick with one each of the merlin and peregrine species. The large broadwing flight that everyone hopes to see this time of year did not materialize during our time at the watch. We tallied thirty birds but the winds were not favorable and the barometer not welcoming either. Two northern harriers made themselves known and five red-tailed hawks soared by. Non-raptor Observations: The cormorants and pelicans continued their unholy alliance trying to put a dent in the shad population. They communed well out on the lake so we didn’t really get clear views of their activities. The pelicans did put on another aerial show today after the feast. Caspian terns continue to dive with abandon along with their smaller brethren, the Forster’s terns. We finally established that we do have a small muskrat living in the rip-rap in front of us as it came out to collect some vegetation. We had been hearing odd noises coming from the rocks and have seen many different critters making a home in the crevices over the years. Predictions: Tomorrow has potential, the barometer is going up at a 45-degree angle and the winds are coming from the NW or WNW. Not our best wind, since we like an eastern influence to our northerly winds but it may be good for some sites. The winds should top out around eight mph. The low has cleared and the broadwings are anxious to go to South America. Sunny skies may make for visibility issues if the birds go high. Hopefully, they are sitting down close by and ready to go. Good Luck! ======================================================================== 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