Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 27, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 4110 59913 Osprey 0 2 26 Bald Eagle 0 14 81 Northern Harrier 0 26 379 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 164 6568 Cooper's Hawk 0 11 50 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 171 489 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 1996 3611 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 4 Golden Eagle 0 46 61 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 17 66 Peregrine Falcon 0 14 70 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3 6574 94360 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: We watch for three months for visitors from Canada, usually from the province of Ontario, but today we had a visitor from Alberta named Clipper. When we arrived at our appointed hour this morning the waters were calm and there was no detectable wind. That changed rather quickly with the winds picking up to around ten mph from the southern end of things. Before long, whitecaps were visible on the lake, showing how important it is to pay attention to the maritime forecasts. The clipper brought snow with it as the temperatures remained below, or at, the freezing point. The sky was completely overcast and it took some time for the snow to reach us but it was evident around us on all sides. Raptor Observations: Although we are technically in a high-pressure zone, you could not tell it from the weather. The raptors are not impressed either and are voting with their wings to go elsewhere. We only managed three birds today. Two red-tails that came fairly close together giving us a little hope that a movement was starting but it was false hope and only one additional raptor, a sharpie was noted in that hour. We cut the watch short because of the falling snow that impeded our view and probably the flight of the raptors. Non-raptor Observations: The ducks were on the move today with large V’s and strings showing against the gray background. Our local gulls were active with lots of chases going on today. Usually, one bird has a tidbit and the others chase until it is dropped or eaten. Some of the local eagles were in the air as the winds picked up. A small flight of hooded mergansers flew over the site. Predictions: The sun will come out tomorrow, or so they say. AM clouds and PM sun is predicted but I won’t bet the mortgage on that. Winds will be from the western quarter generally but picking up strength as the day progresses. That strength may be an issue as the top speed is predicted to be above fifteen mph. The barometer will still be recovering from its low associated with the clipper but start to climb later in the afternoon. Temperatures will climb above freezing to the top half of the thirty-degree range. I think that Monday looks to be a better day than tomorrow with the winds falling to below ten mph and coming from the NW early in the day. The barometer will still be climbing in the early hours but start to fall in the afternoon. Hopefully, we will catch some of the adult golden eagle movement that appears to be going on but there are probably more favorable conditions elsewhere. ======================================================================== 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-2021