Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 11, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 37 56 56 Osprey 0 5 5 Bald Eagle 1 13 13 Northern Harrier 6 18 18 Sharp-shinned Hawk 22 39 39 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 874 910 910 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 22 41 41 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 22 70 70 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 1 2 2 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 986 1156 1156 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Michala Burke, 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: On the third day of promise we were greeted by a robust wind from east of north searching for chinks in our textile armor. It seemed that we were going to face another day of disappointment as there was considerable cloud cover and the wind seemed a little too strong in a direction that did not seem beneficial to our site. Things change however, and the stars finally aligned. The winds went round to a more easterly direction and the clouds gradually cleared. This left us to scan the sky for that most devious of raptors, the broad-winged hawk, perhaps the leading cause of HWN (Hawk Watcher’s Neck), which in its most advanced form allows the sufferer to rest the back of their head comfortably between their shoulder blades. The bird seems at home in the mare’s tail cirrus clouds that eventually filled the sky and with a wind that gave them plenty of impetus they streamed by at a rapid pace. As per usual, blink and you miss them. The high cirrus clouds and a late hour halo around the sun foretold wet weather to come but today was a day to finally celebrate a movement that in the afternoon hours kept us busy Raptor Observations: Of course, the broad-wings were the stars today. Although a moderate movement by their standards we counted approximately 600-700 birds. (I do not have the final tally as I write this.) There were no large kettles but flights of 100 or less that came in the afternoon hours causing us to put in a couple of overtime hours. The birds were high in the sky as is their custom. Joining them in the voyage south were twenty three sharp-shins. Our best number this season but still these birds seem to be late out of the blocks by last year’s totals. Twenty kestrels joined the flow. The turkey vultures were inspired by the wind and twenty eight were tallied. Although the local bald eagles were plentiful today in the fresh wind, we only counted one as a migrant. Six Northern harriers were seen flying higher than usual. We counted a Cooper’s hawk today as it seemed different from our local birds. Twenty one red-tailed hawks took advantage of a favorable wind to start the journey south. A peregrine falcon was seen early in the day. Non-raptor Observations: We had little time to observe non-raptors but searching the skies led to frequent observations of gulls and swallows searching for insects high in the sky. The Caspian terns occasionally squabbled with their loud abrasive calls. The ring-billed gulls were observed diving either on or very close to diving cormorants that had found a school of small fish. They are frequent companions since gulls are very opportunistic feeders. A warbling vireo was heard behind us and many Northern flickers were seen on the ground early in the morning hours. Predictions: The wet weather foretold by the clouds today will arrive tomorrow evening, or night, depending on the fudge factor. The barometer will be falling throughout the day. Winds will shift from ENE to SE. Cloud cover will lessen during the early afternoon hours but should be plentiful early and late. A difficult day to predict since changing weather can affect the flight. Some birds, like sharpies, kestrels and harriers may not be bothered by the changes,as for the others, we will watch closely to see if they come. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg (kevin.l.georg@gmail.com) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285