Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 10, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 173 3864 59667 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 0 9 76 Northern Harrier 2 13 366 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 118 6502 Cooper's Hawk 1 3 42 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 12 106 424 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 153 1316 2931 Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 2 Golden Eagle 5 34 49 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 1 10 59 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 59 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: 358 5477 93243 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Shourjya Majumder Visitors: On Friday November 12th, the road to the boat launch will undergo repairs. To reach the watch site, you can walk from the museum parking lot. Weather: The bell was rung twenty-nine times today at the Mariner’s Church of Detroit. Forever memorialized in the haunting ballad by Gordon Lightfoot, the annual service remembers the twenty-nine crew members lost when the SS Edmund Fitzgerald sank with all hands forty-six years ago today. Just a few days ago we saw the SS Arthur M. Anderson downbound on the Detroit River, the ship that survived the storm and was the last to communicate with the Fitz before she went down; she is still in service Our weather was not so brutal today as the November-without-teeth continues. Temperatures broke the fifty-degree mark by just a little. The winds, once they got started, were well mannered in strength, but undisciplined in direction, staying below five mph while rising and falling, but switching directions erratically during the day. Early clouds were high cirrus mare’s tails, along with a sundog, forecasting the rain tomorrow. The later clouds were more of a soft veil that allowed some light to penetrate. The barometer reached a peak today which will not be seen again until Monday or Tuesday of next week. It started to fall in the last few hours and will plunge tomorrow. Raptor Observations: We could probably start the watch an hour later given our results in the first hour this week which could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Today was no exception with zero birds, with little to no wind to blame. Once the parade started, we faced another problem with the various flight lines, a popular one being well over the lake in the haze. The winds were not our friend today as there was no controlling force to guide the birds in one direction. Some of the more interesting birds were lost in the haze or below the tree line. Nevertheless, we managed to find one hundred and seventy-three turkey vultures. The bird du jour was the red-tailed hawk with one hundred and fifty-three specimens counted. For a time, it looked like they may outnumber the TVs. Twelve red-shouldered hawks tagged along. Two northern harriers were noted. A singular Cooper’s hawk came by. Ten sharp-shinned hawks were tallied. We finally got our second rough-legged hawk today, a light morph. We had five golden eagles today but we saw some more good candidates that we could not confirm due to haze and distance concerns before they disappeared. Non-raptor Observations: A moderate number of crows came by today. A flight of hooded mergansers raced by in the afternoon. The Bonaparte’s gulls continue to work the slip in front of us. Our mallards seem to be getting antsy, flying by in flying-wedge formations frequently. Starlings were not so plentiful today as yesterday. Predictions: Tomorrow does not look promising with a barometer headed down for a reading in the 29.6” range. Winds will pick up, approaching twenty mph at their peak strength. The warm southern winds will bump up the temperatures to around sixty degrees. Afternoon rain is in the forecast at a ninety-four percent chance but the optimists will see that as a six percent chance we will stay dry. I’ll take an umbrella. The hearty southern winds should push most birds well away from us, so the prognosis is not good. ======================================================================== 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-2021