Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 740 38761 46045 Osprey 0 2 16 Bald Eagle 0 17 48 Northern Harrier 12 108 340 Sharp-shinned Hawk 402 2142 5018 Cooper's Hawk 1 35 59 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 48 51 Broad-winged Hawk 0 28 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 487 668 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 8 8 American Kestrel 9 210 965 Merlin 1 26 51 Peregrine Falcon 1 29 51 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: 1170 41901 120670 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa, Sarah deGuise 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: A day very similar to yesterday in appearance, and winds. produced similar results. Winds were steady from the S end of things in the eight to twelve mph range all day. Temperatures did reach the seventy-degree mark, but for once, the wind off the lake was not as welcome as it used to be. Combined with the shade it felt rather chilly at times. The barometer is slowly working its way up and did touch thirty inches today. Skies were mostly clear except for considerable haze to the north and at the end of the day a few high cirrus mare’s tails made an appearance, in high contrast to the bright blue sky. Raptor Observations: The wind was pushing most of the birds sideways as they flew across our neck of the woods. The larger birds, including TV’s, eventually disappeared completely after the morning hours when they played hide and seek off to the north, flying low in the hazy sky. We did manage to count some of then early but they tapered off dramatically later in the day. We ended with 740 turkey vultures. The sharpies made a valiant effort, showing up in every hour of the count, and totaling 399 birds. Back to second place but they impressed us with their effort to remain on top. Northern harriers took the bronze today with a distant 12 tally. We did manage the falcon hat trick with 9 kestrels, and a single count each of both merlins and peregrine falcons. The peregrine was carrying a catch into the woods. Only 4 red-tails were seen today but probably more were lost in the haze. A single Cooper’s hawk was noted. Non-raptor Observations: We saw a few swallows early but most were in parts unknown today. Even the pelicans deserted us as we saw not a one. The kingfisher made a pass. Crows are increasing in number and we saw a few hundred today. The monarchs shook off their torpor from the cold weather and over 50 were noted today. At the end of the watch, we were surprised to hear a loon calling from the water. Although we see them flying over from time to time, sometimes more than one at a time, it is rare to hear them call. Predictions: Tomorrow will be warm and only partly cloudy with a rising barometer. What’s not to like? A southern wind is what. Although tomorrow’s wind should be diminished somewhat from todays and it is hoped that will keep more of the wind surfing birds closer so we can count them. ======================================================================== 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