Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 17, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 3863 11202 15328 Osprey 0 3 22 Bald Eagle 2 19 53 Northern Harrier 2 99 294 Sharp-shinned Hawk 497 2379 5292 Cooper's Hawk 4 11 23 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 6 10 15 Broad-winged Hawk 2 12 22234 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 70 134 195 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 1 American Kestrel 30 370 1019 Merlin 4 22 45 Peregrine Falcon 1 21 47 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: 4481 14282 44569 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood 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: Another day out of the same mold as yesterday, “Clear skies will greet us” er…not so much; more like overcast skies looking for all the world like they had bad intentions. Winds were again robust and erratic in strength, although fairly consistent in direction, wavering slightly from WNW to NW during the day. The skies did finally permit a little blue to show through as cumulus clouds replaced the roughly assembled montage of high-density dark clouds with white highlights that dominated the morning hours. Usually cloud cover is welcome to help us track the birds but the morning sky was so irregular in color and shape it served as a type of camouflage. The morning winds were lighter but enough to keep the small birds low while still permitting the turkey vultures and buteos to advance on a convenient line for us to monitor. Winds of this strength or higher tend to hurt our totals as they push the birds to the south. As the winds grew in strength the flight lines got jumbled and harder to track as the vultures floated back and forth trying to decide the appropriate trail to follow. The harsh wind and lack of sunlight kept the temperatures in check, topping out in the fifties. The winds were as high as seventeen mph as they bounced up and down throughout the day. Raptor Observations: The migration was in full force today as our visitors got to see it firsthand. Frequent flyovers by smaller birds and some turkey vultures helped to explain why we do what we do. Most of the time there is a lot of distance between us and the birds but on certain days it all works out. Our top performer was the turkey vulture as is to be expected in October. We counted three thousand, eight hundred and sixty-three today. Two bald eagles, both subadults, were counted. Only two harriers were noted, a second slow day for them, but the winds may have affected them more. Four Cooper’s hawks were tallied and their smaller counterparts, the sharp-shins started early and amassed a total of four hundred and ninety-seven. The kestrels were not so apparent and only thirty were counted. Four merlins were noted, along with one peregrine falcon. Two late broadwings were tallied. The buteos were interested in moving today with six red-shoulders and eighty red-tails going through the turnstiles. Non-raptor Observations: Another quiet non-raptor day with a few notable exceptions. Three American white pelicans flew over the watch site today. Two sandhill cranes could be seen and heard rattling their distinctive call up in the ether. The blue jays are still on the move along with blackbird groups. Forster’s terns made a brief appearance today. They used to be regulars and as a photographer I miss their elegant lines. Cormorants are still present in great numbers. Eighteen monarchs were counted. Predictions: Tomorrow’s forecast looks similar in many respects to todays. Winds will be WNW, or thereabouts, staying below ten mph. Skies should be clear, but I will wait till I see them before I believe it. Temperatures will rise to the low sixties. The barometer will rise slightly again tomorrow. Assuming we have not emptied the pipeline, we should see bird movement again. The rains that passed probably caused some pent-up demand to move and we are behind on turkey vultures’ numbers so hopefully the Darth Vaders of the sky will fly again tomorrow. ======================================================================== 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