Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 34 550 72043 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 2 57 Northern Harrier 2 16 400 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 30 4951 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 75 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 62 668 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 139 2753 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 9 Golden Eagle 3 17 35 American Kestrel 0 0 639 Merlin 1 3 56 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 94 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: 51 825 98223 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 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: Let there be cloud; and so it was until the late afternoon when it began to break a little and show that the sun was still on its station. Mostly a flat gray sky with some texture due to a few gnarled, knobby bottomed clouds that appeared darker and more menacing than the others. There was something going on up there but not much in the way of bird movement today. Winds were from the S mostly, with occasional diversions to the SW and the speeds were up and down a little at near ten mph. The barometer was fairly stable around 30.15” but it too waffled slightly as the isobars passed. Raptor Observations: The flight line, what there was of it, was a little more diverse today. It was a pretty slow day and like the two previous days, the flight stopped in the afternoon. We did manage to score three golden eagles and at this time of year they are the Grail bird so the day was not a complete disappointment. For most of the day they outnumbered any other species so that tells you how slow it was. Eventually, the red-tailed hawks managed to surpass that number but only solo birds passed and they were widely spaced. Seven were counted on the day. Only one red-shouldered hawk passed in the morning. Two sharp-shins and one Cooper’s hawk represented the accipiters. Falcons could only manage one volunteer; the first bird of the day was a merlin. Two harriers, one a gray ghost, were seen to the south, one flying very low, close to the water to get below the wind. Turkey vultures captured the numbers crown with thirty four birds, a puny result for a bird that has carried us this year with over seventy thousand birds. Non-raptor Observations: A common loon was seen fishing out by Celeron Island again today; pretty far out so not good views in the waves as it bobbed up and down. The cormorants seem to have departed for warmer climes since we have not seen larger numbers for a few days. Lots of passerines came over today but with our vantage point it is difficult to see exactly what these birds are. Today, they seemed easier to pick them up with the cloud cover but they are little bounding shapes that pass over very quickly. We did notice a lot of pine siskins and goldfinches today. A couple of Bonaparte’s were in the cove later. Predictions: It will be mostly SW winds again tomorrow with a fairly high barometer over 30.2”. Winds will be less than ten mph but close to it. The sun will be back although a little cloud cover will be present. Hard to say what might happen given the last two days which have been good for half of the day but less so later in the afternoon. Hopefully, the goldens will come and save the day again…There is still road work going on at the site so the only access will be by foot along the boardwalk. ======================================================================== 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