Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 5305 56282 63566 Osprey 0 2 16 Bald Eagle 5 31 62 Northern Harrier 0 141 373 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 2933 5809 Cooper's Hawk 1 40 64 Northern Goshawk 1 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 90 182 185 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 867 1809 1990 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 4 13 13 American Kestrel 0 226 981 Merlin 0 43 68 Peregrine Falcon 0 38 60 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: 6284 61769 140538 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen, 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: “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree.” Apparently, Mr. Kilmer’s reverence for natural creations was not shared by the owners of the property that we referred to as “three trees”. Over the last two days, it has been reduced to no trees by a mechanized tree removal squad. The contrast is stark. But I digress….Another day of relatively light, shifting winds in which the wind turbines were just as confused as we were. The weather app did not seem to agree with the blades of grass we tossed in the air. The birds were constantly adjusting flight lines to adapt. The skies did clear of the morning stratus blanket to reveal ice crystal clouds that gave us a partial sun halo and pleasant abstract designs in the firmament. Temps did reach fifty-seven and with the sunny end to the day it was comfortable if dressed appropriately. The barometer peaked and started a very slow decline, which will continue as more potential rain is on the way early next week. Raptor Observations: Another bountiful day bringing in the sheaves. Although the shifting flight lines made seeing the birds a little more difficult due to distance issues, the birds seemed to be playing follow-the-leader so strings of turkey vultures and buteos were flying in the same lane. Turkey vultures dominated with 5,305 winging their way south. Red-tailed hawks came in impressive numbers for the last six hours of the watch, kettling at times, but mostly in line with the turkey vulture streams. We totaled 867 for the day. We were having a slow year for this species until the last couple of days but they are trying hard to make up for it. We always seem to have about a ten to one ratio for red-shouldered hawks and so it was today with 90 of them flapping hard to stay up with the red-tails. Eagles were on the move today with 5 bald eagles and 4 golden eagles making the count. We were finally lucky enough to see some of the goldens fairly close overhead. They usually tease us by appearing low over the trees and then taking the stairway to heaven up, up and away using the updraft off the tree line. Sharp-shinned hawks kept a low profile today with only 11 making the clicker. A single Cooper’s hawk was seen and also a solo bird, our first juvenile northern goshawk of the season flew overhead in one of the raptor streams. Non-raptor Observations: A pair of sandhill cranes was noted in the distance while counting raptors. Our kingfisher laughed maniacally as he flew in front of us. Crows were not as plentiful today as yesterday but at times large flocks added up to nearly ten thousand counted. The great egrets continue to crowd together in the marsh, while great blue herons are seen more often in flight the last couple of days. Predictions: Tomorrow will be sunny most of the day with temperatures reaching the high fifties. The barometric pressure will stay above 30 inches all day, even though it may dip towards the evening hours. The winds are the issue that make tomorrow difficult to predict. They will be light and once again variable. Staying well below five mph and changing through all the possible variations of easterly, it will make flight lines and raptor visibility difficult to predict without a definite steering force. Our fortune depends on whether the winds are kind, as usual. ======================================================================== 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