Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 30, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 57 51041 55160 Osprey 0 5 24 Bald Eagle 0 35 67 Northern Harrier 0 161 353 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 3446 6357 Cooper's Hawk 0 29 39 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 308 313 Broad-winged Hawk 0 18 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 1437 1498 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 14 15 American Kestrel 0 422 1068 Merlin 0 25 48 Peregrine Falcon 1 28 54 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: 67 56970 86971 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Rosemary Brady, 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: "Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared dream before." “The horror, the horror.” Forgive me for mixing Poe and Conrad but it seemed warranted on a Halloween’s Eve that was dark and horrific from a hawk watching perspective. We were located near the center of a low that begrudgingly gave us what might ordinarily be a productive wind but the barometric pressure never budged from a frightening low of 29.56 inches. Occasional light misting rain fell during the day to deepen the sense of despair and gloom that permeated the coven today. Winds blew in relentlessly from the NNE bringing nothing but more despondency. Humidity was excruciatingly high complicating our vision problems to an unbearable degree. But to quote another learned philosopher, Little Orphan Annie, “The sun will come out tomorrow.” Raptor Observations: Usually, the first day back after a “vacation” is a kind of a punishment having the audacity to take time off. This was no exception, although today’s threatened and predicted rain failed to materialize in any meaningful way, there was still a price to be paid. For the first four hours of the watch, we had a total of two birds, one red-shouldered hawk and one sharp-shinned hawk, the sole representatives of their respective species. The fifth hour got a little more interesting with turkey vultures, perhaps the best representative of Halloween, appearing out of the gloom, never to be seen again. We did manage to spot fifty- seven during that hour. Red-tailed hawks also showed at that time and in the final hour as well. We counted seven total on the day. The falcons were represented by a lone bird that appeared over our heads without warning, a young peregrine falcon. Non-raptor Observations: Our first horned grebe of the season made an appearance today; keeping it company were four pied-billed grebes. Both the Forster’s terns and Bonaparte’s gulls paid a visit today terrorizing the minnow population with fearless dives in the case of the terns and skillful picks by the gulls. There was a possible sighting of a common tern, which despite the name, is not common at our site. The gulls were up soaring a lot today, trying to draw our attention by imitating buteos, only adding to our frustration as they were successful at times. Increasing numbers of ducks of undetermined ancestry are seen silhouetted in the distance, winging their way to warmer climes. Predictions: It is hoped that the forecast is correct in predicting that sunshine will greet us in the morning. It may be a case of varying cloud cover tomorrow as the low-pressure area moves on leaving some residue to clear as the barometer indicates that high pressure is moving in. Winds may be a problem for our site as they are predicted from the WNW at ten to fifteen mph in the afternoon hours. This may be a little too strong for best results for us. The rain may have caused a little blip in the pipeline but hopefully it will fill tomorrow. It should be better than the trick we had today, tomorrow we may get a treat. ======================================================================== 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