Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 4 1014 65679 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 8 24 90 Northern Harrier 0 18 393 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 46 5883 Cooper's Hawk 2 22 89 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 5 145 478 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 6 1287 4296 Rough-legged Hawk 0 4 4 Golden Eagle 3 26 43 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 0 11 79 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 62 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: 28 2600 145445 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Sarah deGuise 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 day after a rain event is hard to predict in terms of weather and raptor movement. If the clouds persist, the birds may not move. It seemed that might be our fate this morning as we faced heavy cloud cover with some sinister clouds looking like they had a hair trigger, ready to drop more rain. Eventually, small fissures revealed that the blue sky and sun were indeed still present behind the heavy curtain. The percentage of blue sky increased as the clock advanced. The winds were sluggish and seeking direction this morning. Most of the time, the water in front of us showed no real wind effects, minor ripple patches appearing occasionally; the readings from the weather app seemed exaggerated. Starting in the NW, the wind turbines had to pivot later to a WSW direction, then to the S, but there was little force to spin their blades. The barometer was working its way back to 30 inches but stalled out just short of that mark. Raptor Observations: The first three hours were consistent, if nothing else, nothing being the operative word as the world seemed calm and deserted of birds, especially raptors. Finally, a lone red-tailed hawk signaled that the movement had reached our neck of the woods. He was soon joined by other raptors, some going high to find more wind, none appearing in a hurry to move, with long soaring periods before streaming out. Bald eagles led the way today with 8 of their species anxious to get out of town. Red-tailed hawks had 6 participants. Red-shouldered hawks were close on their heels with 5 counted. Turkey vultures are still out there with 4 flying by. Golden eagles accounted for 3 of the total and Cooper’s hawks brought up the rear with a pair counted. Non-raptor Observations: The rain seemed to have washed our slate clean this morning as the large flock of Bonaparte’s gulls were, at first, nowhere to be seen. Eventually, they began to filter in, a few at a time. We had a visitor that came to see the little gull this morning and shortly after he left, content at least to have seen a lifer golden eagle, the little gull emerged. Oh well, timing is everything. Impressive threads of ducks in the many thousands were flying in the southeast sky. At this time of year, they are biggest movers by far. We cannot ID them but being so far away gives a sense of the magnitude of the migration as they stretch for long distances across the sky. Predictions: Tomorrow will be another prelude to a rain event that should take place in the early morning hours of Wednesday. Clouds will be present in significant numbers and around midday the barometer will start to fall again to around a final destination of 29.5 inches during the rain. Winds will be increasing during the day to the fifteen plus range at day’s end. Coming from the SSE, it does not bode well for our site. ======================================================================== 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