Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 05, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 205 3257 59060 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 2 8 75 Northern Harrier 0 5 358 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 76 6460 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 40 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 13 70 388 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 104 948 2563 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1 Golden Eagle 2 21 36 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 1 5 54 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 58 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: 337 4393 92159 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Frank Kitakis, Shourjya Majumder Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: The flags hung flaccid on our arrival this morning. The wind had less energy than was required to stir the wind turbines from their torpor. Today was a day of change from westerly winds to a more southerly direction. The mild start was expected but the winds grew to more than predicted and affected the flight in both the beginning and final hours. We started with glass smooth water in front of us and ended with choppy waters and a few whitecaps forming on the lake. The mostly sunny day looked pleasant enough, although the sun was obscured from time to time by passing bands of stratus clouds. Temperatures reached the upper forties and unless you were in the shade it felt comfortable. The barometer was higher today than yesterday and for once the skies looked like a high-pressure zone, at times a mostly cloudless dome of blue. Raptor Observations: The birds took the morning off except for a few intrepid sharpies and waited for the wind to build. Once again, the best movement was clustered around the midday hours with only nine birds to show for our first three hours. Once the wind built, we had a slightly northern flight line that was pushed, as the wind built, further north to the edge of hazy visibility. We ended with a modest number of turkey vultures at two hundred and five, a few decent kettles drifted by but only decent by November standards, not October’s. We counted two bald eagles today and two golden eagles, all subadults. Red-tailed hawks were moving today but at the end of the day we lost sight of them to the north. Nevertheless, we ended with one hundred and four notches on the picnic table. Thirteen red-shouldered hawks shared the air space. One merlin was observed in their seemingly perpetual search for something to attack. Ten sharp-shinned hawks were counted on the day. Non-raptor Observations: A common tern was observed today, actually it may have been here a few days but it was finally confirmed today. Bonaparte’s gulls kept it company. Crows were crossing in big murders again, some numbering in the several hundred. Flights of red-winged blackbirds made their usual morning crossing. We are seeing more starlings than usual this year but nothing to match the large murmurations occurring over Canada. Predictions: The winds should be more evident at the start of the watch tomorrow. That may not be a good thing given the direction from whence they come. They are predicted to stay a little less potent than today’s nine mph blast. That isn’t really a blast but coming from the south it tends to push the birds out of out sight to the north. Tomorrow’s wind will be from the southwest and predicted to stay about five to eight mph. Temperature’s will possibly breach the half century mark if we are lucky. Cloud cover should be less than fifty percent for most of the day with waves of clouds ebbing and flowing. The barometer will possibly give back a little but still stay well above thirty inches. Hopefully, we can see the birds on the move if the wind permits. ======================================================================== 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