Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 17, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 4047 59850 Osprey 0 1 25 Bald Eagle 0 10 77 Northern Harrier 0 18 371 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 133 6537 Cooper's Hawk 0 10 49 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 142 460 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 1623 3238 Rough-legged Hawk 0 2 3 Golden Eagle 0 42 57 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 14 63 Peregrine Falcon 0 7 63 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: 1 6049 93835 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Shourjya Majumder Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: Fast forward to an even more dystopian future; the Yellowstone super volcano has exercised its pyroclastic rights, spewing ash thick enough to blot out the sun. The volcanic/nuclear winter is well underway and a gray pallor shrouds the earth. A few gulls, a few ducks, and one bewildered sharpie are all that’s left of a once thriving avian population. Such was the landscape that greeted us this morning at the watch site. Spirited winds from the south may have warmed the air but any birds that may have been flying were doing so behind a solid cloud curtain, forced well to the north. The nimbostratus clouds darkened and threatened from time to time, but it was mere saber rattling, only light rain fell; the main course will be served later tonight. The barometer was falling, bottoming out at 29.81 InHg, but will soon rebound. The temperature reached sixty degrees but we do not expect that to continue as more challenging, much colder days are coming. Raptor Observations: Yesterday’s forecast for today did not hold much promise but we hoped for better that what we got. Only one sharpie, fighting hard in the brisk wind, made an appearance. We did see the local eagle and Cooper’s hawk but they did not make the clicker. We eventually sensed the futility of the mission and cut it short in the afternoon. Non-raptor Observations: We did have a fly-by of a small group of lesser scaup today, one black duck in flight was also noted. The Bonaparte’s gulls are still present working the waters in their delicate way. A flight of horned larks came over this morning. One pied-billed grebe was seen out towards the lake. Predictions: The winds will shift to the west tomorrow but remain strong, even more robust than today, topping out over fifteen mph. The barometer will be climbing back above thirty inches, the first of a two-day climb. It seems that tomorrow we will be seeing a lot of cloud residue from this low that is passing today. The west wind is a head wind for the raptors so it will be interesting to see how they handle it. They may be forced to tack into it and that can make for interesting flight lines. The sun returns, and winds eventually diminish, on Friday which would seem to make for a better day. ======================================================================== 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-2021