Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 02, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 1 2 2 Bald Eagle 0 0 0 Northern Harrier 1 2 2 Sharp-shinned Hawk 8 8 8 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 91 92 92 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 8 8 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 14 15 15 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 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: 123 129 129 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen 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, we just don’t want their cooties. 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: On Thursday’s menu we were served the diminished northerly winds left over from the grand entrance of the large high-pressure system yesterday. We were not the main beneficiaries of yesterday’s winds as our colleagues at Holiday Beach reaped a very good harvest from the strong winds. NE winds, as it turns out, are like Goldilocks’ bowls of porridge, you have to have just the right amount for your site. Today, with winds in the single digit range with only occasional exuberant gusts, we found them more to our liking. The skies started mostly blue and were filling with many fluffy cumulus clouds only to have them displaced as the day progressed. We were left with a clear blue palette to contend with; not our favorite when searching for the most elusive of hawks, the high-flying medium sized broad-winged hawk. The object of everyone’s desire during September. We were lucky to take advantage of the winds as we did locate more birds today, although we would have preferred them a little closer. Raptor Observations: Today we counted one osprey. One northern harrier flew by later in the afternoon. Eight sharp-shinned hawks joined the rest of the high flyers and seven red-tailed hawks soared past. One peregrine was noted making a nuisance of itself making runs at, of all things, a turkey vulture that was soaring too close to it. Fourteen kestrels were noted and last but certainly not least, we counted ninety-one broad-winged hawks. That is a very good number for the second day of September but that’s what favorable winds will do for you. Usually, the first week is hot leftovers from summer weather with little movement at all. Non-raptor Observations: Today’s biggest surprise of the day was perhaps the nine American’s white pelicans that were soaring very high in the sky. Although they are fairly common in the area, we usually see them a little later in the year. We did see a single common nighthawk yesterday that I forgot to mention.(I am still shaking off the cobwebs.) Three lesser yellow legs were seen racing by in the afternoon. Although we did not see them at the site, more wood warblers were reported in the park. Yesterday’s Connecticut warbler was not seen again. Monarch butterflies were seen in consistent, slow but steady numbers throughout the day. The Caspian terns were putting on a diving show in the later afternoon hours. We have not seen any Forster’s terns this year and they were late to arrive last year. That used to be one of the regulars at the site but they must have relocated. One cedar waxwing was noted hawking insects from a nearby tree. Predictions: The high pressure will continue to dominate tomorrow but the winds will turn more easterly and blow at a moderate rate in the single digits. This usually pushes the birds to the north of us so we will be looking in a different quadrant of the sky tomorrow. Hopefully the low strength of the wind will allow them to stay in sight. The tea leaves are indicating building cloud cover throughout the day. Temps will be in the mid-seventies. ======================================================================== 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