Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 17, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 29 168 168 Osprey 0 10 10 Bald Eagle 0 16 16 Northern Harrier 3 67 67 Sharp-shinned Hawk 42 667 667 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 1 1 Broad-winged Hawk 478 4952 4952 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 15 78 78 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 26 204 204 Merlin 1 8 8 Peregrine Falcon 1 4 4 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 595 6177 6177 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: 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: Our great expectations were pipped on a lee shore today by a wind from the NE that was too robust by half. The clouds from the change of pressure systems receded to the east as the morning progressed leaving us with a high blue sky overhead. However, a persistent haze over the lake remained throughout the day as absorbent as (name your favorite paper towel here) when it came to spotting birds. Kettles of broad-wings were spotted briefly and lost very quickly. The wind would seem to ease at times but in truth it maintained double digit strength all day and the birds riding on that wind were forced well to the south of us. Raptor Observations: A day that started with cautious optimism proved that the caution was well deserved. The wind was an overriding factor in our numbers today. I suspect that the Holiday Beach location and our colleagues in Ontario were the beneficiaries of the enthusiastic blast from the NE. We did end the day with twenty one kestrels. One merlin and one peregrine were spotted, giving us the falcon hat trick. Red-tails were the one buteo species that did fight their way through the wind, totaling 15 birds. A new season high, but it was little consolation for the missed opportunity of seeing broad-wings. Three harriers pumped their way by. The turkey vultures seem to be getting a little more anxious to be getting underway and were seen in small kettles staging over Canada. We counted twenty nine today. Sharp-shins were present in modest numbers and thirty two made the clicker keys sound. Four hundred and seventy eight broad-wings were counted out over the lake in the morning hours with great difficulty, except for a few strays that wandered by our site on their own. Reports from Pointe Mouille indicate that approximately 15,000 broad-wings were seen during the day. Non-raptor Observations: Blue jays were seen in increasing numbers and larger flocks today. At the end of the day we saw about thirty Forster’s terns flying over the lake. Twelve American white pelicans were seen soaring over the Brain Tree. The gulls were plentiful in the sky today forcing to look at them to eliminate them as raptors, a cruel task given the lack of raptors. Predictions: The forecast for tomorrow looks to be a mirror image of today with double digit winds from the NE. This would seem to doom us to repeat today’s fate. We are locked down in one spot but if you wish to see raptors in huge numbers the solution is simple: go to the Pointe Mouille Headquarters on Campau Rd. We sent people there today and the broad-wings were flying in large numbers. Reports from our counter who went there after the watch said he saw 7,000 birds and other counters there saw 8,000 before he arrived. We could not see them from our viewpoint and for those of us that count them for the pleasure of it, it was very frustrating. Cheers! Andrew S. ======================================================================== 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: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285