Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 2950 30220 37504 Osprey 1 2 16 Bald Eagle 0 15 46 Northern Harrier 13 72 304 Sharp-shinned Hawk 142 938 3814 Cooper's Hawk 2 20 44 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 41 44 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 15 380 561 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 7 7 American Kestrel 22 131 886 Merlin 1 14 39 Peregrine Falcon 2 22 44 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: 3149 31890 110659 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord 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: Today we watched a battle of the titans as high pressure forced its way into our world, forcing the low to move on. The sky was littered with the casualties of war. Bruised clouds in various shades of grey and steel blue were jumbled in with the white clouds trying to establish their claim to the sky. Towards day’s end the disturbed and turbulent scene had cleared, leaving white cumulus clouds free to roam at will. The leading edge of a high is usually windy and today was no exception, gusty winds bounced between ten and fifteen mph from a mostly W direction with occasional variations to the southern side of west. Temperatures were in the low fifties but felt a few degrees cooler due to wind chill effects. The barometer was headed north all day but, even though it rose three tenths of an inch off its early morning low, it could not reach thirty inches. It may not succeed tomorrow as more potentially rainy weather is on the way with a drop in pressure to precede it. Raptor Observations: A thin but steady stream of turkey vultures kept us busy through most of the day. They continued to come even though the rest of the species had apparently taken a coffee-break the last couple of hours. We counted 2,950 black gliders slowly working their way into the wind. Sharp-shins were common during the early part of the day but ran out of steam later. A total of 142 was tallied. The American kestrel came next on the list with 22 of their species noted. Red-tailed hawks numbered 15. Mark Hainen, my esteemed colleague, requested that I acknowledge that he found one of the red-tails today. I was reluctant to do so until he snuck up behind me and threw me with a tornado suplex and had me in a rear naked choke hold before I knew what was happening. I had no choice but to tap out and acquiesce to his demands. Northern harriers had a decent day with 13 counted, including a couple of gray ghosts. A pair of peregrines were seen today, as well as a couple of Cooper’s hawks. A late osprey was observed. Single counts included a red-shouldered hawk and a merlin. Non-raptor Observations: Swallowpalooza II, The Reckoning, took place today with an apparently infinite number of swallows in the air. Their exuberance was matched by the pelicans today who put on several aerial shows for us. One at day’s end with the sun shining on them made the white part of their wheeling motions really pop as two hundred or more took to the sky. Apparently, over three hundred of them are roosting in the southern part of the Metropark. It was moving day for Lake Erie as the water dropped about three foot due to the persistent winds. Rocks that we had not seen before were exposed. One disabled boat was seen being towed in that had apparently not realized that areas that were once safe were no longer to be trusted. Yellow-rumped warblers were seen in the denuded maple tree next to our observation post today. A pied-billed grebe and a Caspian tern were noted diving into the shallow waters. Predictions: The wind will ease tomorrow but only to high single digits in the morning, rising to ten mph in the afternoon. Directions will be SW, trending to a more westerly direction in the afternoon. The barometer should be declining as Monday looks to have chances of some precipitation. Clouds should be increasing in the afternoon. The winds tomorrow actually look good compared to the higher winds that are forecast later in the week. I would expect a day similar to today with turkey vultures leading the way. ======================================================================== 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