Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 272 347 347 Osprey 0 12 12 Bald Eagle 1 22 22 Northern Harrier 30 155 155 Sharp-shinned Hawk 171 2013 2013 Cooper's Hawk 2 9 9 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 23829 57243 57243 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 11 115 115 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 71 646 646 Merlin 3 20 20 Peregrine Falcon 0 14 14 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: 24390 60596 60596 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7.17 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Mark Hainen, 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: Like a dog chasing its tail, the wind went round the compass today. Starting from NNW, moving through ENE and continuing around to end in the south, the birds were constantly hearing “Recalculating” as their flight lines changed frequently. It was a more tempered wind that blew today, much to our advantage, since the moderate push it provided did not move the birds over the horizon. The morning birds were moved out over the lake but some were still in sight. The skies were a deep shade of blue for the most part with some decorative cumulus clouds passing through in small numbers until later in the day at which time we started to see the indications of a change in status coming over the next couple of days. The clouds do help us, when present in small numbers, as they give guideposts to point out high-flying broadwings. They are not so helpful when the sky is heavily populated and someone interprets the shape of the cloud as some form of mammal as painted by Picasso during his surrealism period. The barometer peaked before noon and started its decline towards another trough on Sunday when the rain should hit in earnest. Temperatures topped out near sixty degrees but the drop in wind speed and the mostly sunny day made it more tolerable than yesterday. Raptor Observations: “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” This seemed to be the theme of the day as flight lines materialized from unusual places as the wind changed. Our most productive line was actually behind us as the broadwings took new paths, materializing from places unseen to kettle in huge numbers. At the end of the day, they were coming from the NE to fly in a westerly direction. It paid to have your head on a swivel and I want to give special thanks to all of those that helped us manage the sky today, we are very fortunate to have such willing and capable helpers. We counted 23,829 broadwings today. Not the last of this species we will see, but it seems unlikely to see as many in one day this season. The turkey vultures seemed to have been inspired as they started to move in bigger numbers today, at times in kettles with the broadwings. We tallied 272. Next down the list were the sharpies with 171. Kestrels were still flying by at breakneck speed with a total of 71 for the day. Merlins numbered 3 today with no peregrines noted. The red-tailed hawks, still nearly all juveniles, were on the move again with 11 counted. One bald eagle was noted, although over the last couple of days the local eagles have been up in force. Two Cooper’s hawks were noticed tagging along with the broadwings. We had to work an hour of overtime today but the 24,390 birds were worth it. Non-raptor Observations: The American white pelicans were out again today putting on their aerial show, numbering about 35 birds. There was a large congregation of great egrets in the marsh again today, numbering north of 100. The distant cormorants were looking like Picasso’s cubism period due to Fata Morgan effects out on the lake. Their gatherings over the bait fish schools are becoming huge and the gulls flying just over them make for an impressive scene. Blue jays were also moving today and we counted 9,700 during the day. Usually, they are a morning bird but on big days they come all day long. They also had some creative flight paths, high and low, north and south. The monarchs have tapered off considerably with only 35 noted today. Predictions: Tomorrow should be a few degrees warmer with a more consistent wind from the southern quarter gradually rising during the day to near 10 mph. The barometer will continue to fall as low pressure moves in. Skies should be much cloudier but a little blue should show. The increased wind may not be of much help to our site tomorrow and a falling barometer is not usually the best news. Still, we have to be optimistic and hope that the flight continues in some form. ======================================================================== 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