Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 195 880 65545 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 1 3 68 Northern Harrier 0 7 382 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 19 5856 Cooper's Hawk 2 6 73 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 8 73 406 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 74 468 3477 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 5 22 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 0 6 74 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 62 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: 281 1469 144313 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Jessica Fletcher Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Rosemary Brady 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: Winds matter. The wind was doing its inconsistent thing again today. Rising and falling, changing directions and changing flight lines. The first two hours got off to a good start with NE winds at about five mph but as the wind went more easterly, the strength grew and our count shrank. In the final hours with NE again, we started to see some traffic but too little, too late. It seemed that the birds had shifted to flying very high, well out over the lake, cutting the corner and nearly impossible to see and count. Temperatures did break the fifty-degree mark by a little. Except for some distant clouds low on the far perimeter of our vision, there was no cover to speak of. The barometer did climb to the 30.7” range before starting a very slight decline that should continue for the next three days. Raptor Observations: Turkey vultures are not quite ready to give up yet. Most of ours came early in the morning hours, totaling 195 and regaining the gold medal. Red-tailed hawks got the silver with 74 of them making the clicker. Red-shouldered hawks got the bronze with 8 birds. Cooper’s hawks finished off the podium with a pair of birds. The eagles each had one representative in the bald and golden class. Non-raptor Observations: Today we learned how not to shrink-wrap a boat for winter storage. The process is done using a sheet of plastic that is heated with a torch causing it to shrink. After the job was apparently done, flames suddenly erupted and within minutes the boat was engulfed in fire, a thick black plume of smoke heading skyward. It was a total loss, including the outboard motor, before the fire department arrived. This was in front of the house we refer to as “Bad Vinyl” but we may have to come up with a new name now. A good number of crows made their way by today, coming in very large flocks at times. Occasionally, they seem to lose their sense of direction and almost look like a kettle of vultures as they swirl around seeking a new leader. There seemed to be a lot of local bald eagles up enjoying the winds today with several chase scenes taking place. The great egrets may have relocated as they seemed notable by their absence this morning in the marsh. Predictions: The temperature will rise about ten-degrees tomorrow. Uh oh, I think that means southern winds again. The barometer will continue to slide down, dropping a full inch from its high today by Friday afternoon. There should be a little more cloud cover tomorrow but the sun will make its presence known. The winds from the south will be between five and ten mph, gradually increasing more on Thursday which is not good news. Hopefully the milder winds in the morning will allow some birds to come by but we have not had much luck on falling barometers with southern winds lately. ======================================================================== 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