Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 27, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 476 1288 1288 Osprey 1 14 14 Bald Eagle 0 26 26 Northern Harrier 14 196 196 Sharp-shinned Hawk 218 2558 2558 Cooper's Hawk 1 11 11 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 2809 64671 64671 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 128 128 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 32 689 689 Merlin 0 21 21 Peregrine Falcon 2 17 17 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3561 69620 69620 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Erika Van Kirk Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: One more turbulent day in the spin cycle of what, by now, should be a named low-pressure area. The ever-changing multi-colored clouds looked like what you might see in a man’s washing machine. Wait, what? We’re supposed to separate whites and colors? Although the clouds with the darkest hues did look threatening, no precipitation was noted even though the radar was peppered with pop-up cells. The wind was mainly out of the WNW for the third day, blowing at a good clip with substantial gusts from time to time. Temperatures reached 60 degrees and our comfort level hinged on whether the sun reached us or not. The barometer was rising from its low and will continue to do that for another couple of days. Better conditions are coming, the winds will turn and blow for multiple days from our favorite NE direction. The strength of the winds will determine our fortune on those days. Raptor Observations: The WNW direction seems to cause the raptors to turn in our direction from a position further north than what they might do in a pure NW wind. Most of them seemed to head into the wind early in the day but the later birds went higher and quartered on the wind. Like sailboats they calculate the best way to get where they are going with the least effort. Broadwings came early and often with 2,809 counted, some in fairly large kettles. Turkey vultures are getting their ducks in a row and starting to move in larger groups of 40 or more, we counted 476 today. Sharp-shins numbered 218, taking a wild ride in the winds. We noted 7 red-tailed hawks and our first red-shouldered hawk in with some broadwings. One Cooper’s hawk was clicked, along with one osprey. Northern harriers numbered 14. On the falcon side of the ledger, 32 kestrels bounced their way through the winds in contrast to the 2 peregrines that seemed to be in complete control, slicing their way through the wind with ease. I suppose that a bird that can stoop at a reputed 200 mph isn’t going to be bothered much by winds that approached 20 mph. Non-raptor Observations: American white pelicans were the sideshow this afternoon. They landed near the jetties in some numbers and later went a loft to practice their aerial moves. The best part of a hundred birds were up in different groups, sometimes gathering to wheel together. A small group of shorebirds flew by but too fast to identify, I don’t think they were our usual yellowlegs. The swallows are still working the sky around us, at times making it a little harder to find and track birds. Blue jays numbered around 4,000 today, still staying low to avoid the headwinds. Our local kingfisher made a brief appearance. A flight of about 20 pintails flew by this morning, closer than we see most ducks, other than mallards. Predictions: The barometer will continue to rise tomorrow and the winds will finally turn more northerly. They will still be up in the ten-mph range which should drop on Thursday to single digits and add an eastern element. That might be our sweet spot. Clouds will remain in fairly large numbers. The temperatures will drop a little with the northern winds down into the high fifties. It might be time to add another layer just to be safe. The NE winds are predicted to stay with us for a number of days. That is fairly unusual but the larger systems are causing this to happen more often with multiple days of wind from the same direction. ======================================================================== 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-2022