Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 01, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 71493 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 0 55 Northern Harrier 0 0 384 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 4921 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 70 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 606 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 0 2614 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 8 Golden Eagle 0 0 18 American Kestrel 0 0 639 Merlin 0 0 53 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 94 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 0 0 97398 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 09:00:00 Total observation time: 1 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood 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: We started the watch under pleasant enough looking skies but that did not last long. The strength of the winds is an indication of the pressure differential between the high and low systems. The barometer had dropped six tenths from yesterday to start the day at 29.7” the winds responded in kind with strengths in the twenty mph range. After an hour, the sky darkened considerably and the wind picked up, light rain and graupel started to fall. We were in The Tempest and when Ariel flew by unable to hold up against the wind we took a quick vote and decided we could waste our time more comfortably at home. Lines of light rains and snow showed on the radar and the rise in the barometric pressure had not started yet. It was unlikely that most migrating birds would enjoy this weather any more than us. Raptor Observations: We counted no raptors today. One of the local eagles was riding the winds. Non-raptor Observations: Not much time to observe other species today as we only lasted an hour. Predictions: The most favorable conditions for migration take place overnight with rising pressure and NW winds. By the time we get back to work, the winds will switch to westerly and increase in strength as the barometer begins to drop again. Another quick turn around like we have been having a lot of lately. With winds near 20 mph again it will be hard to say whether we get a good flight line that we can see. Sometimes a change of a few degrees in direction makes a big difference. ======================================================================== 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