Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1322 1322 Osprey 0 21 21 Bald Eagle 0 25 25 Northern Harrier 1 114 114 Sharp-shinned Hawk 31 1760 1760 Cooper's Hawk 0 8 8 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 2 2 Broad-winged Hawk 2 15628 15628 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 121 121 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 1 334 334 Merlin 0 17 17 Peregrine Falcon 0 18 18 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 35 19371 19371 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Sam Heilman 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: The sky was solid gray this morning and an eerie (Erie?) calm prevailed as we were located in the eye of the low. The waters in front of us showed nary a ripple. The wind turbines in Canada, a few miles away, were barely turning. They followed the direction of the wind, slight though it may have been, turning on their pedestals like sunflowers following the sun. The morning radar showed a colorful disturbance headed our way, shades of green, yellow and red indicating mayhem approaching. As is often the case, the weather system started to break up as it approached the Fermi II Dome. It was the mid-afternoon hours before rain finally reached us and gave us a couple of well earned hours off. Raptor Observations: We still had a few birds fly today although the winds around us were swirling in different directions depending on the direction your looked. Sharpies led the way, of course. Thirty one of them were seen. The first ones seemed to be traveling with the blue jays today. One harrier was noted passing through. One kestrel made a brief appearance. The surprise birds were two broad-wings who mini-kettled across the slip from us and then streamed above us as if with hundreds of their brethren, who are mostly long gone Non-raptor Observations: Although earlier I said that the sky was solid gray, I did not mention the blue hue that was present. Once again the blue jays were flying by in the morning hours by the multiple thousands. Truly extraordinary to see the sky filled with these birds in such numbers. I have been informed by a reliable source that their food supply may be limited in Canada this year so they are headed south in droves. My other moment of awe this morning occurred as I stepped out of the chariot and saw two birds headed in my direction. I thought they were ducks as the view presented was head-on and with the darkness caused by the heavy overcast skies they appeared as silhouettes. I was right on one count. As they raced by I could see that the lead bird was being pursued by a Cooper’s hawk. The hawk pulled up and landed in a tree but not before the pursued bird made a call that I was not familiar with. I checked my Sibley guide and found that wood ducks do indeed have a distraction call that is nothing like their normal peeping call. It was quite interesting to see, although the wood duck would rather not repeat the performance. Predictions: The weather is still a little unsettled in the next few days with chances of precipitation on Wednesday and Thursday. The barometer may bounce up tomorrow only to head down again on Wednesday. It will still be below 30” with winds of moderate strength, below 10mph, but not by much. WSW seems to be the direction of choice for tomorrow. Probably sharpie winds but Friday looks better, at least at this point. With changeable weather like this it is possible to see the forecast and our fortunes change day by 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