Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 19, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1049 72564 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 13 68 Northern Harrier 0 33 417 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 119 5040 Cooper's Hawk 0 31 101 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 175 786 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 13 1458 4076 Rough-legged Hawk 0 13 21 Golden Eagle 1 37 55 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 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: 16 2946 100375 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 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: There wasn’t much promise in today’s forecast with strong winds out of the south bringing unseasonably warm temperatures but pushing any migrating raptors to the northern edge of their boulevard of travel and beyond our sight. The barometer had fallen four tenths overnight and continued to fall another tenth during the watch hours, ending at 30.01”. It was a fairly steep decline since yesterday, although that may be the bottom of the curve and it should trend upwards tomorrow. Skies were laced with lots of contrails from air traffic and high quirky cloud formations that seemed to move at a slower pace than the surface winds would indicate they should. Our position was sheltered from most of the wind but the white horses on the waves on Lake Erie ran freely today, unlike the raptors that fought to maintain their decorum in gusty headwinds. Raptor Observations: It was a tough day to count raptors today as the winds were playing havoc with their plans. It was not unusual to see a bird and then lose contact with it making it hard to track as they sought refuge behind trees and sometimes looped back a considerable distance. In the end, it was probably the day we expected given the forecast. We did have one moment of excitement as the first bird of the day was a golden eagle crossing the channel spotted by Sam, whose young eyes are a welcome addition to our ranks. After that, it got a little harder to discern whether we had migrants or locals since tracking the birds was very difficult. We did count two sharp-shins and thirteen red-tailed hawks. Most of the birds seen in the morning hours before the winds became too gusty for their comfort. Non-raptor Observations: A slow day for non raptors, although the gulls, early in the day, formed impressive kettles. A pair of buffleheads flew by early in the day. We observed a few small congregations of horned larks moving through. Great blue heron were also seen a few times, they too were fighting the headwinds. When you see a lot of gulls sitting on the water facing into the wind it tells you that things are tough and they are sitting this dance out. Predictions: As predicted, tomorrow has a lot of the elements that made today a difficult day. Winds in the fifteen mph range from the SW, although there will be a shift to the W as the day progresses with a small drop in strength. The barometer should be climbing but not at the sharp angle that is preferred. Cloud cover stays around 50% which is usually a help to track birds. Temperatures will stay high on the shoulders of the SW winds nearing the 60 degree mark again. The winds will be more favorable on Saturday as they change to a northerly direction and at a more modest strength as the barometer continues to climb. Sunday may be a rainout again. Place your bets on Saturday. ======================================================================== 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