Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 08, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 6 6 6 Osprey 0 1 1 Bald Eagle 1 6 6 Northern Harrier 1 15 15 Sharp-shinned Hawk 39 70 70 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 3 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 165 12486 12486 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 15 71 71 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 18 111 111 Merlin 1 6 6 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 4 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: 246 12779 12779 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, 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: Those of you expecting purple prose about clouds will leave disappointed this afternoon. There was one small cumulus cloud that dissipated in a matter of minutes in the dropping humidity today. Blue skies were the order of the day and with fairly light winds, the birds went aloft and were hard to find. The winds took their time moving from the N to the S today and it wasn’t until the end of the day they seemed to settle and grow in strength. As it moved through the eastern quadrant in the afternoon the end result was to push the birds to the north into a thermal haze caused by the lake’s evaporation. IDs were made very difficult as the birds shape-shifted in the distortion. The barometer was dropping this afternoon and did drop below 30 inches to 29.92 at one point. The relative humidity dropped into the 30+% range in the afternoon before starting to rebound. Raptor Observations: Broad-wings once again led the way with 165 counted. They were in much smaller groups today and that much harder to locate. The sharpies are starting to pick up the pace a little with 39 tallied. Red-tailed hawks showed up 15 times today. Kestrels kept pace with 18 noted. A single merlin was seen flying by in a bad mood. Only one northern harrier was found as they apparently did not care for the offered wind. One bald eagle was counted high overhead. We also thought that six turkey vultures looked like they were in a migratory mood which is earlier than usual. The last week of September and October is when they move in big numbers. A total of 246 birds is a big letdown from our four-digit totals from the two previous days but not every day is great at a hawk watch. Non-raptor Observations: It was a fairly quiet day for birds in general. The low winds kept the gulls sitting on the water for a lot of the day. We did see a couple of black-crowned night herons fly by. A great blue heron was also looking for a place to fish. The local eagles and ospreys gave us some looks as they honed their skills. Hummingbirds were continuing to pass during the day. A flicker flew over from Gibraltar Island. The kingfisher made another appearance. Predictions: Tomorrow will look like a carbon-copy (you of Gen Z age may have to Google that phrase, along with the word “type-writer”) of today’s weather with bright blue skies. The humidity will be much higher and the real feel temp may break 80 degrees. Winds will remain mostly southern during the watch but on the eastern side of directly south. That may help with our comfort level. They should rise during the day from 2 mph up to 8mph. Not a promising forecast for buteos but we should continue to see a few broadwings along with sharpies and falcons. ======================================================================== 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