Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 03, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 369 420 71913 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 2 57 Northern Harrier 8 14 398 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 17 4938 Cooper's Hawk 2 3 73 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 30 60 666 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 40 90 2704 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 9 Golden Eagle 4 5 23 American Kestrel 0 0 639 Merlin 1 1 54 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 94 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 464 613 98011 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Alex Gilford, Don Sherwood, Rosemary Brady Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs.If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: Today was the first of, apparently, many unseasonably warm days as a large high pressure system takes over with SW winds bringing air from a warmer place than ours normally is at this time of year. Winds grew throughout the day to fifteen mph before shifting to the S and dropping by one third. Barometer was fairly steady near 30.15” but had dropped slightly from its starting point. Clouds were mostly absent although we had a few visitors in the form of high cirrus that blew through quickly leaving a mostly clear blue dome over us for most of the day. Raptor Observations: The flight line was a little unusual today with birds appearing to come from the north back into the SW winds. Some form of tacking into the wind was going on but as the wind shifted to an almost south direction the movement seemed to die. It was a more rewarding day than possibly expected, although the end of day was not too taxing with zero birds in the last hour. Turkey vultures were active early with three hundred and sixty nine on the day. Harriers were flying today with eight of them noted. Sharp-shins are still coming but their peak is well past, we tallied nine today. Two Cooper’s were also seen passing through. The buteos were busy, as this is their time of year, with thirty red-shouldered hawks and forty red-tails soaring and gliding though. Two merlins represented the falcon family today. Four golden eagles passed through, coming from the north towards us in a flight pattern that we don’t normally see. Non-raptor Observations: Tree swallows are still working the skies around us. The Bonaparte’s gulls are working the waters across the slip. A flight of eastern bluebirds flew over today. A common loon was seen fishing close to Celeron Island. We usually see them flying over the tree line across the slip but not on the water. Two sandhill cranes were seen flying overhead. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be almost a carbon copy of today. For those of you that are young enough to have never seen a carbon copy, an archaic means of making copies, it means it will be the same as today. Winds from the SSW, increasing during the day to the teens in strength, may affect the flight line. Hopefully, the birds will be visible from our vantage point and we will not be working the scopes quite so hard as today. It should be warmer than today with temps ending up in the sixties. November, where is thy sting? ======================================================================== 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