Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 11, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 161 844 72337 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 2 6 61 Northern Harrier 2 28 412 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 92 5013 Cooper's Hawk 0 17 87 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 16 101 707 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 305 787 3401 Rough-legged Hawk 1 5 13 Golden Eagle 1 27 45 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 5 58 Peregrine Falcon 2 4 98 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: 501 1918 99316 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 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: Today’s sky looked a lot like most of the last week; a blue sky with a slight rind of cloud low around the perimeter. The difference was that this was the leading edge of a cold front, or high pressure system, after a low had raced through during the night. The winds were supposed to be WNW but perhaps were a little south of that in our locale, wind turbines don’t lie. The barometer graph had a nice upward slant to it that always bodes well, although it never quite got over 30” from a low reading of 29.7” when the front passed through. The western winds were not our preferred winds and we had to wait with bated breath to see what they would provide. They blew mostly in the high single digits with some variations during the day. Raptor Observations: Although the flight line was not really close to us it did provide ample birds today. The birds were essentially heading upwind with a slow pace that was a result of facing a relatively robust force against them. Turkey vultures were the first to make their presence known, a bird that has not been seen in any appreciable numbers lately as their peak has passed. We ended with one hundred and sixty one on the day. Not a huge number but better than most recent days. Eleven sharp-shins flapped and glided through, although the headwinds helped them to stay aloft and modified their flight habits somewhat. Two harriers showed late in the last hour of the day. The signs pointed towards buteo movement today and the prophecies were fulfilled. We saw twenty two red-shoulders along with three hundred and five red-tails today. Two bald eagles, one sub adult and one adult, were noted up in the stratosphere today. One rough-legged hawk, a light morph, passed over. Two peregrine falcons passed through although they both spent some time hunting, showing spectacular stoops at times and harassing other species in the area. We had to wait for our golden eagle today. It came near day’s end, one adult bird tried to slip through, but our motto is “None shall pass”. Non-raptor Observations: The star of the non raptors today were the tundra swans who announced their presence vocally as they passed overhead with their white V’s in stark contrast to a bright blue sky. Our local Bonaparte’s contingent seemed to be growing but most spent their time sitting on the water with little feeding. Other migrating passerines were not busy today with little action on the corvids front either. Predictions: The barometer should peak tomorrow but the winds will undergo a change in direction and force as they switch to the east and diminish to barely-there strengths of two to three mph. Usually, the lack of winds is not a good thing since it forces the birds to work harder so it remains to be seen what we will have tomorrow. Friday looks to be a better day on paper with winds increasing from the W going WNW and the barometer increasing in the later part of the 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