Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 168 46477 46968 Osprey 0 5 35 Bald Eagle 0 26 77 Northern Harrier 6 91 265 Sharp-shinned Hawk 71 1739 3817 Cooper's Hawk 1 69 80 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 185 185 Broad-winged Hawk 0 538 64336 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 15 707 822 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 4 4 American Kestrel 1 125 698 Merlin 1 15 31 Peregrine Falcon 0 31 46 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: 267 50013 117366 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady, Sam Heilman Visitors: Johannes and Dee came to visit today. It was the early bird that got the golden eagle worm today though and most people missed it. Weather: A carpet of freshly fallen multicolored maple leaves greeted us at the site today. The sky was monochromatic blue all day. Slowly increasing winds from the S were apparently manageable for the birds that chose to make the trip. Barometer was over 30.1 to start but fell slightly during the day. Raptor Observations: The highlight of the day was a golden eagle that popped up over the "tree with no name" and flew low over the water. Golden eagle "low" is anything below a few hundred feet. Unfortunately for the photographers it was on the sunny side. 168 Turkey vultures played hide and seek in the tree tops which was surprising considering the low winds. 71 sharp-shins kept us busy searching those tree tops for their familiar shape. 15 red-tails and 3 red-shoulders stood up for the buteos. The harriers were 6 strong. Falcons came in the form of 1 kestrel and 1 merlin. Non-raptor Observations: A Bonaparte's gull came into our neighborhood to look for minnows. This year we only seem to see a solo bird. Forster's terns kept it company. Long strings of ducks can be seen migrating well off in the distance. The lake level made a dramatic recovery from the low levels of yesterday gaining nearly 3 feet. The strong SW winds blew it all up to Buffalo the day before. Predictions: A moderate wind blowing from the S to SW on a cloudy day with a relatively high barometer may not discourage the birds from flying but that wind seems to blow birds out of our sight lines. It is not our best wind. The next two days after that look even worse with lots of rain on 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: http://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-2019