Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 100 1728 1728 Osprey 0 23 23 Bald Eagle 0 25 25 Northern Harrier 3 121 121 Sharp-shinned Hawk 32 1951 1951 Cooper's Hawk 0 9 9 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 0 15645 15645 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 125 125 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 33 384 384 Merlin 1 19 19 Peregrine Falcon 5 28 28 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: 175 20061 20061 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess 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: Some mornings are just majestic than others. Golden rays piecing through a dark and foreboding multilayered cloud formation over Lake Erie set the stage for a day of change. We are in a low pressure system; turbulence prevails with scattered rain squalls and broken cloud coverage alternating with solid, dark grey, cloud decks. We even had a spell of blue sky filled with beautiful puffy cumulus clouds, but it did not last. The barometer started low and dropped another tenth during the day. The wind rose in strength and fury nearing 20 mph before easing a little late. The winds cleared the sky of birds in the late afternoon hours and it was a very slow last couple of hours. Raptor Observations: Before the winds reached their full strength and the first squalls actually reached us we had a fairly decent flow of raptors in the early hours. Kestrels were "early and often" voters and at times led the numbers of sharpies. We counted 33 in total. The falcons have been moving in the last few days in bigger numbers. We had five peregrines and one merlin today. These birds were flying low today to avoid buffeting in the winds that were growing in intensity. It was not uncommon for them to hide behind the trees and then fly low over the water, darting this way and that as the wind gusts hit them; making them hard to spot in the darkness that prevailed the time. The sharpies also flew on trimmed wings as they bounced up and down, thirty two were noted. Three harriers were seen over the lake, one flying just about the water as they do in high winds. One young red-tailed hawk was seen high overhead. The turkey vultures always love high winds but even they were staying low to the tree tops as ninety seven meandered through in no particular hurry. Non-raptor Observations: The swallows were back today and as we were sitting in the middle of two bug hatches, they were flying close to us, at times looking like falcons. The high winds kept a lot of the birds away from us today as they were pushing in the wrong direction. The blue jays were still on the move but we could only see a couple of huge flocks today. Perhaps they were more to the north of us. Predictions: Tomorrow is a day that may or may not deliver. The barometer will be rebounding, which is good, but rain is still in the forecast with scattered thunderstorms predicted. Whether they hit us or not, will probably affect our count. Winds will be from the W, mostly, and more moderate than today. Sharpies and the usual W wind suspects will probably fly between storms. Friday still looks to be the day of choice although the rise in the barometer will not be as sharp as predicted earlier. The winds will be from the NW and hopefully not too strong for our site. Holiday Beach will have a good day. ======================================================================== 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