Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 17, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 4 1041 72556 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 2 12 67 Northern Harrier 0 32 416 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 116 5037 Cooper's Hawk 3 31 101 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 18 169 780 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 60 1396 4014 Rough-legged Hawk 1 11 19 Golden Eagle 0 35 53 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 1 8 61 Peregrine Falcon 0 8 102 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 90 2861 100290 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Alex Gilford, Andrew Sturgess, Sam Heilman Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs.If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: “And gentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.” ( Henry V, W.S.) Well, we didn’t defeat the French but our little band of brothers put up a good fight against a persistent gusty NW wind that brought snow squalls, continually changing cloud cover, and real-feel temperatures in the twenties. It never let up and seemed at times to increase just to wear us down. As a measure of its erratic strength, consider the fact that a Canada goose crashed into a tree behind us as it and its partner flew by. It fell to the ground but had the wherewithal to run off as we went to check it, so it should be OK. The barometer was on the rise and the needle mockingly pointed at FAIR as the snow pellets flew. It rose a tenth during the day but it was a cold windy fall day best observed from behind a window with a warm cider in your hand and comfort food in the slow cooker. Raptor Observations: Today had the look of a movement day with NW winds and a rising barometer but it was a pretty turbulent day and when you see red-tails being blown around like sharpies you know it is tough sledding out there. We had four lonely turkey vultures move by. Two bald eagles, both juveniles that we did not recognize from their markings, passed through. Only one sharp-shin dared to venture forth. Three Cooper’s hawks, a bird that is a little more stable in the wind, made the crossing. This is the time of season for buteos and we had eighteen red-shouldered hawks and fifty two red-tailed hawks that fought their way over. One merlin took a swipe at a red-shouldered hawk before stooping into the trees for a more suitably sized prey. Our one exotic today was a dark morph rough-legged hawk that showed up in the final hour. Non-raptor Observations: Most of the birds were hunkered down today with the geese and the gulls riding the waves facing into the wind. We did see some tundra swans flying overhead today, but not many. We could see many ducks out on the lake disturbed by the passing of the thousand-footer M/V Edwin H. Gott but could not ID them. Predictions: Tomorrow looked to have good potential a couple of days ago but now the peak in the barometric pressure coincides with a change in direction of the winds from NW to SW at the beginning of the watch. This may still be OK since winds will build gradually from three mph to eight by end of day. It will end up a slightly warmer day with more sun and less wind to chill us. It seems that the best part of this day may occur during the early morning hours when it is still dark but fingers crossed. ======================================================================== 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