Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 26, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 1070 72585 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 17 72 Northern Harrier 0 36 420 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 124 5045 Cooper's Hawk 0 33 103 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 204 815 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 1589 4207 Rough-legged Hawk 0 18 26 Golden Eagle 0 37 55 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 9 62 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: 2 3148 100577 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 12:00:00 Total observation time: 3 hours Official Counter: Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood 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: The residue from yesterday’s wet weather was reluctant to leave this morning. Low clouds, full of moisture, still looked threatening and the relative humidity of over ninety per cent backed up the threat. Apart from a drop or two, it was mostly bluff, although enough to keep the birds away. The barometer was still below 30”, although it rose a couple of hundredths toward that goal in the three hours we put in before pulling the plug and turning our attention to a different type of bird for the holiday. The raptors were already observing a holiday in our neighborhood. Raptor Observations: We only saw two birds today. One was a sharp-shinned hawk and the other a red-tailed hawk. Non-raptor Observations: Plenty of gulls in the sky today but they had it to themselves for the most part. Three bufflehead raced by in the gloom. A common loon was spotted on the water out by the Celeron Island jetties. Otherwise, all quiet on the avian front. Predictions: Although the barometer will rise over 30” tomorrow, the day will resemble today with lots of cloud cover. Winds will be from the SW peaking around 9 mph in the mid-afternoon before easing slightly. Saturday might be a better day with sunshine for a change, although the winds will be from the W. Hopefully the different look will inspire our raptors to move before the snow arrives on Monday. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (ajyes72@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