Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 30, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 836 69447 71235 Osprey 0 9 31 Bald Eagle 0 30 55 Northern Harrier 5 250 381 Sharp-shinned Hawk 18 2945 4901 Cooper's Hawk 3 59 69 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 85 597 599 Broad-winged Hawk 0 677 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 384 2396 2521 Rough-legged Hawk 2 7 7 Golden Eagle 3 18 18 American Kestrel 0 252 639 Merlin 0 33 52 Peregrine Falcon 1 66 94 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 2 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 1 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1337 76789 97013 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 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: I’m starting to have trust issues with the weather apps. Our local winds were more from the W than the apps showed and perhaps, given their strength of around 10 mph that was a good thing for the flight line as it kept the birds from being blown out over the lake, although we may have lost some to the north of us as they headed into the wind rather than quarter on it. A dense, gloomy, low cloud cover never really cleared from overhead, although out over the lake some sunshine could be seen as if to remind us that better days are coming, or have passed. The barometer was about 30.2” and rose as the watch progressed about another tenth, although the sky did not represent a high pressure look very well. Raptor Observations: The birds were a little slow to start but all of a sudden they started to rise from below the trees and we had a good movement for most of the extended middle of the day. We still may only have been on the edge of a great movement but it kept us busy for a few hours. Turkey vultures don’t seem to moving in as great a numbers as earlier in the month but still led the way with eight hundred and thirty six. Five harriers dared to cross. Eighteen sharp-shins and two Cooper’s fought their way into the teeth of a cruel wind. The buteos love to move on this kind of wind and eighty five red-shouldered hawks and three hundred and eighty four red-tails soared and streamed across. One peregrine falcon was spotted hiding in the tree tops. The exotics were represented by two rough-legged hawks, one light and one dark morph, and three golden eagles were noted. One discovered by our eagle-eyed Amish friends who paid us a visit today. Non-raptor Observations: Swallows are still working the local waters and skies. A small flock of dunlin also made an appearance flying in their usual tight erratic formation. Crows were present but we did not see the numbers that we did yesterday. Some blue jays were noted but only small numbers. A great egret flew over and we have been seeing some great blue herons flying together recently. Predictions: Tomorrow might be a transitional day as we head to a low pressure system passing on Sunday but with a nice rebound on Monday. We should see the sun tomorrow but the barometer will start to drop about the time the watch starts and in a fairly steep fashion, bottoming out on Sunday at 0700. Our winds tomorrow should be low at the start of day but increase as they settle on a southerly direction. The speeds of 13 mph at day’s end may insure those birds that do fly will be to the north of us. Whether any of this will actually occur is anyone’s guess since, as I mentioned before, I am beginning to have trust issues with weather apps. ======================================================================== 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