Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 24, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1384 62262 64050 Osprey 0 9 31 Bald Eagle 0 30 55 Northern Harrier 8 216 347 Sharp-shinned Hawk 12 2871 4827 Cooper's Hawk 2 52 62 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 25 174 176 Broad-winged Hawk 1 676 16406 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 58 942 1067 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 1 9 9 American Kestrel 1 252 639 Merlin 3 30 49 Peregrine Falcon 3 63 91 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 2 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1498 67589 87813 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood 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: A day that had promise on paper was slow to deliver as the thick congealed clouds left from the dramatics of yesterday’s storms were reluctant to leave. The winds from the N gradually fell during the day leaving no clearly defined guiding force for the birds and we saw many different flight lines. Eventually the wind shifted to the NE and grew a little helping to define the flight in a more pleasing line for the site. The clouds that were slow to break up gradually began to separate in the afternoon hours showing a deep blue sky between them. The barometer was fairly steady near 30.2”. Raptor Observations: What looked to be a good day to a human was not so good for the birds. The diminishing winds and change in direction was not encouraging enough and not strong enough to provide a guaranteed thrust in the right direction. Finally, at the end of the day we were rewarded with one of the most impressive sights in raptor migration, large numbers of turkey vultures, resembling scores of bombers in formation, passed in front of us in their effortless way of riding the winds. The easiest way to get to South America is just to hold out your wings. We ended with thirteen hundred and eighty five with the last hour being the most productive. Usually, when the winds are low the birds fly high to find more of the lift they need. Today it was a variable flight line as they were high and the winds were light at the low elevations. The buteos that we hoped for were flying but not in the numbers that we would have liked. We ended with twenty three red-shoulders, sixty eight red-tails, and one broad-winged hawk that was late in the day and had an injured wing, perhaps explaining his late-in-the-season appearance. We did have a falcon hat trick today with three merlins, three peregrines and one kestrel. Sharp-shins were not in abundance today with twelve making the show; three Cooper’s hawks were also counted. We saw plenty of bald eagles today but all were deemed to be local. The one golden eagle that we saw was not local. Eight harriers rowed their way through, most of them high, unlike yesterday when they flew low. Non-raptor Observations: Plenty of swallows, numbering in the hundreds (despite what Ebird says), were seen flying low over the water at first and them higher later on. They were joined by gulls hawking insects high in the sky late in the afternoon. A small flock of Bonaparte’s gulls were seen flying though the cove low over the water later in the day. A pair of pied-billed grebes was noted swimming in front of us. Crows were on the move today in large murders passing through for most of the day. A few blue jays were seen but not in great numbers like the past few weeks. Predictions: Tomorrow would seem to be the opposite of today with increasing winds and cloud cover throughout the day. Winds should be consistent from the NE and that can be the most productive wind for our site. They should top out at ten mph which may be OK, but it might be a Pte. Mouille HQTR day if that proves too strong. The barometer should start to dip in the afternoon and the sky will be mostly cloudy by the end of the watch. There should be movement since most of the indicators are positive but birds don’t read these predictions. ======================================================================== 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: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285