Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 12, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 6 6 Osprey 0 3 3 Bald Eagle 0 11 11 Northern Harrier 0 18 18 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 468 468 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 3 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 7 12525 12525 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 74 74 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 134 134 Merlin 0 7 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 5 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: 17 13254 13254 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Mark Hainen 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: ALL RIGHT FOLKS, MOVE ALONG, NOTHING TO SEE HERE. Oops, time to use my indoor voice again. We spent the day listening to the sound of steel sheet piling being driven home by a hydraulic hammer. I question whether there is a noisier hawk watch anywhere. Between the Detroit Metro planes, the 1000+ H.P. boats leaving the launch area, the mowers, blowers, and other lawn care sounds, we rarely have a quiet watch. Today was a quiet day in one regard, the birds were not really moving. We are in a low-pressure area that brought rain overnight and we saw our lowest barometer reading in some time at 29.8 inches. When we first sat down to start the watch we were driven back to the cars to wait out light rain that started to fall. We had heavy rain during the night and today was a clearing day for that system. At least we had a pleasant amalgam of cloud forms to watch as we went from a gray blanket to a considerably brighter end to the day. The winds were SW and grew to double digits during the watch. We could see the tree tops dancing, and the few birds we saw were getting moved around in the turbulence, but we couldn’t feel the wind as the trees behind us are an effective wind-block for winds from that direction. Raptor Observations: We ended with seventeen birds on the day. Ten of them were widely spaced sharpies and seven broadwings slid by to the north of us. The local eagles were up in force, engaging in mock battles, but didn’t really come close to us staying high above the ground turbulence. Non-raptor Observations: Our treat for the day was the sight of a large mixed flock of double-crested cormorants, American white pelicans and various gulls who had found a very large school of bait fish, presumably shad, and a form of Bacchanalia ensued. It was far out on the lake so we did not hear the goings on but that was the first time we had seen pelicans in the mix. The 40+ pelicans then decided to give us an aerial show as they went aloft and wheeled in their traditional formations. The Forster’s terns seemed energized today as they frequently took off and flew in close formations before returning to their favored roosting spot on the base of the entrance buoys. Hummingbirds were whizzing by but even they seemed to feel the wind as their flight were not as direct as they usually are. Predictions: Tomorrow seems to have better chances of seeing birds than today. The barometer will be rising and the winds will be westerly with a northern flavor. Wednesday may be even better but the NW winds generally helps our Canadian colleagues at Holiday Beach. The winds should be moderate in strength so perhaps we will both benefit. Thursday holds promise too, with early ENE winds and the barometer topping out before starting a gradual decline again. It’s time for the broadwings to move, unfortunately I don’t see any NE winds in the forecast at this time and that is our most favored wind. ======================================================================== 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