Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 72 3558 59361 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 1 9 76 Northern Harrier 2 10 363 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 103 6487 Cooper's Hawk 0 2 41 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 80 398 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 31 1100 2715 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1 Golden Eagle 2 27 42 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 8 57 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 58 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: 117 4899 92665 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Alex Gilford, Andrew Sturgess, Patrick Mulawa 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: Another lovely day in the neighborhood, except for our specific purposes. Southern winds bore in plenty of warm air making for a November day in which you actually took off layers instead of wishing you had one more. Mid-sixties are not what we expect this time of year. Unfortunately, the winds were a little too robust for our site reaching strengths of up to thirteen mph. Today was merely a gentle prelude to larger things to come later in the week. The barometer stayed above thirty inches with its usual small late day dip. The clouds did not test my lexicon today as they stayed on the side lines, visible in the distance but very low on the rim of a clear blue dome. Raptor Observations: The winds were present at the beginning of the watch today; once again, the birds were not. Only two sharpies the first hour; we ended the day with nine. Turkey vultures were the numerical leaders today but we could not break the century mark with a sum total of seventy-two wide-spread birds. Two northern harriers were noted, one well out over the lake just above the mildly choppy waters. One bald eagle was counted today. Thirty-one red-tailed hawks drifted over slowly taking their time on an unfriendly wind. Two golden eagles were noted today and it was fun that we had visitors to point the second one out to. The first one gave us our best look at a golden this season. Non-raptor Observations: Insects were out in force today, including a small army of lady bugs. Spiders came out in substantial numbers on the rip-rap rocks in front of us to enjoy the sun. Our northern water snake was soaking up some beneficial rays. A small flight of American widgeon flew overhead. Crows took the day off for some reason, we only saw a few, although they might have taken a more northerly route. We did have a starling situation just behind us where they mobbed a sharp-shinned hawk who faced perhaps a thousand-to-one odds. It seemed rather laissez faire about the whirling mob above it. Bonaparte’s gulls are still paying us a visit. The larger gulls seemed more interested in reaping the insect bounty today, hawking well up in the sky. Predictions: Let’s hope there is a mad rush for the exits again tomorrow. Moderate NE winds will bring rain in the afternoon but may increase our raptor count tomorrow as the change begins to a low-pressure system that may be a doozy. The barometer will hang in there tomorrow but take a plunge on Thursday where winds will stay above ten mph all day, sometimes double that. After this week we will bid the sixty degree temps a fond farewell as they will be down considerably. We may have a couple of days of movement before Thursday’s rain and low pressure but we look to be entering a period of turbulence so it may be tough to predict. ======================================================================== 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