Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 16, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 17 1037 72552 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 10 65 Northern Harrier 0 32 416 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 115 5036 Cooper's Hawk 1 28 98 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 5 151 757 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 17 1336 3954 Rough-legged Hawk 0 10 18 Golden Eagle 0 35 53 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 7 60 Peregrine Falcon 1 8 102 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 44 2771 100195 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 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: It turns out my concern about falling trees was well founded. One of our intrepid hawk watchers, for the preservation of privacy let’s call him Mr. X, although you probably know him better as Don Sherwood, came to look for owls on the nature trails as the winds raged. He was treated to the sights and sounds of not one, not two, but three trees, or large parts thereof, crashing to the ground; it was time to “Run Away!” Today was the day after, and like most momentous days there was some recovery time needed. We started off with mostly cloudy skies that cleared by day’s end, although a few high cirrus clouds blew through foretelling possible rain tonight. The water that changed from smooth to rough the other day was at a level three feet lower today as strong SW winds blew the lake up to Buffalo. It will slosh back tomorrow. The barometer was about 30.1” to start but receded a little as the day progressed, another sign that rain might be coming, but not in the quantities that fell yesterday. Winds were fresh all day, officially from the WSW but actually maybe a little more S of that. Raptor Observations: The flight was subdued today as yesterday’s mayhem may have interrupted the pipeline a little. The winds were not the best so it’s also possible we lost some birds to the north. Seventeen turkey vultures made their way into a head wind slowly. One juvenile bald eagle made his way through. Only two sharp-shins and one Cooper’s hawk flew by struggling in the winds. Five red-shoulders and seventeen red-tails were observed. While I was photographing a close red-tailed hawk, a peregrine falcon snuck up on us from the other side flying very close to us but giving little warning as he blew by. Non-raptor Observations: It was fairly quiet, today for non raptors. We haven’t seen a lot of tree swallows around the last few days but did see one today. With that species you never know if they have left or merely have moved to a more productive feeding spot. A few Bonaparte’s gulls returned in the afternoon hours to feed and bounce around on the winds. Lots of Canada geese were seen flying in later in the afternoon. A loon was seen flying across the slip and it came in for a landing on the lake to the south of us. Predictions: Tomorrow has some promise to it as the barometer will be rising after the potential rain passes through late in the night. Winds will be from the NW but possibly a little too strong for our site during the early hours; they will begin to drop in the later afternoon hours. This is the classic sign for a high pressure system moving in with a rising barometer and NW winds but there is always a caveat in that the strength of the winds must be moderate enough for the birds to stay on course to our location in the middle of a broad avenue that they may take. Substitute cold front for high pressure system and you know that it will be cold air blowing tomorrow so wear the thermals. ======================================================================== 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