Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 30, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 4110 59913 Osprey 0 2 26 Bald Eagle 1 15 82 Northern Harrier 2 29 382 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 173 6577 Cooper's Hawk 0 13 52 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 177 495 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 2024 3639 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 4 Golden Eagle 4 50 65 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 18 67 Peregrine Falcon 0 14 70 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: 13 6628 94414 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Rosemary Brady Visitors: I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the visitors we had this season. We enjoy sharing our enthusiasm and knowledge with you. Thank you for your support and encouragement. It takes a village to do a hawk watch and Detroit River is blessed with good people that like each other. We work together as a team to do what, at times, is a demanding job. My personal thanks to all those people that contributed their time and their eyes on the sky to help complete the mission this season. We are all privileged to be able to observe one of nature’s greatest shows. Peace and love to all. Andrew Weather: We received our allotted amount of snow overnight and, as predicted, the skies cleared just before the watch started. We were met by smooth waters in front of us and a cerulean blue dome in which to peer in search of the last raptors to be counted this season. We kept the light on for them but they were slow to arrive as the winds were very mild at first, gradually increasing as the day progressed to the ten-mph range with a mostly western direction. The barometer stayed steady just below 30”. The afternoon skies eventually filled rather quickly with a thick stratus layer that hid the sun and darkened our world. The temperature, which had climbed slightly above forty degrees, began to retreat. For most of the day it was a pleasant way to spend our final hours at the watch. Raptor Observations: Slow off the mark today, we eventually had what we considered a fitting end to the season with reaching our revised goal for golden eagles. We managed four today to reach sixty-five for the season. There are other sites seeing adult goldens so they are finally on the move, a little too late for us. Two northern harriers came by, keeping each other company. Two sharp-shins also fought their way into the western winds. Surprisingly, we only saw four red-tails today but our locals put on a show. We did count one well-marked bald eagle today that looked unfamiliar to us. Non-raptor Observations: The local red-tails took exception to the presence of the local bald eagles today. A pair of red-tails attacked one of the local adult bald eagles with a vengeance, both repeatedly swooping on the not-exactly- defenseless eagle who did the talons-up barrel rolls to protect itself. This went on for several minutes. Later, one of the Celeron Island red-tails started stooping and running at a bald eagle sitting in a tree. This too, went of for several minutes. Not sure why the red-tails had their hackles up today. The eagles were not being aggressive in anyway, but they probably were in what the red-tails considered their territory. A small group of hooded mergansers were seen down in the channel, the gulls were crowding them to take advantage of any mistakes. Flights of red-winged blackbirds could be seen bounding by today. Predictions: Migration does not stop today, but our season does. Keep your eyes on the sky..... ======================================================================== 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