Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 9 129 129 Osprey 0 9 9 Bald Eagle 0 16 16 Northern Harrier 21 62 62 Sharp-shinned Hawk 256 525 525 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 1 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 540 4471 4471 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 62 62 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 17 172 172 Merlin 1 4 4 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 3 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: 844 5455 5455 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: Yesterday’s weather was a very clear demonstration of the vagaries of the wind and atmospheric conditions that affect the counts at hawk watch sites. Our friends at Holiday Beach saw over eleven thousand broad-wings and we only had one large kettle that numbered a few hundred. We are located a mere eight miles apart. Today’s weather did not look too promising as winds were predicted to grow in strength from the S during the day. The smoke haze from California had cleared for the most part leaving us a clear light blue sky for the best part of the day but with time there grew a light white cover high above us by the end of the watch. The wind did indeed grow and it seemed to impede the flight during the afternoon hours. The barometer was predicted to fall and it did in the afternoon after the wind had built to double digit strength. It had started at 30.35 and dropped a couple of tenths by the end. Temperatures were comfortable fall temps in the sixties making for a pleasant day. Raptor Observations: The southern winds did not bode well for the soaring birds but those that press on regardless found the lighter winds of the morning to their liking. Sharpies were popping over the trees like someone had left the lid off the popcorn popper. We ended up with 256, our best day this year. We got off to a slow start with this species so it was good to see them in these numbers. The broad-wings were pushed far to the north and were difficult to see in a hazy sky. We only saw them early on in the morning hours when the wind was lighter and tallied 540. Nine turkey vultures were seen today but their days are coming. Twenty five kestrels were counted winging their way through. One merlin was spotted coming across the water from Celeron Island and exhibiting unusual behavior. It seemed to dive at the water, perhaps attacking its own reflection as feisty at they are, and then it landed on the floating “seaweed” vegetation. It stayed for several minutes and seemed to be taking a shallow bath as last seen. Our other record setting bird (for the young season) was the northern harrier. They seemed to be determined to get out of Dodge and passed over in couples, or even three one time, totaling 21 on the day. Non-raptor Observations: There is little new to report on the non-raptor side of things. The Caspian terns continue to dive bomb the minnow population. Swallows seemed to have moved to other areas and were not a visual road block as they can sometimes be. Even the gulls seemed to be widely spaced today. We did see some butter butts in the alder tree close to our seats. Pied-billed grebes continued to terrorize the fish in the neighborhood along with the insatiable cormorants plying their trade in our end of the lake. Predictions: The wind will shift slightly to the SW tomorrow and increase in strength to low double digits. The barometer will continue to fall as rain approaches in the late night hours. Not a promising forecast but the birds that do not pay attention to forecasts may continue to move. Sharpies, kestrels, harriers might show up but the long winged birds that ride the winds will probably not be seen by us in large numbers except possibly in the morning hours when the wind is lighter. I hope I am wrong of course. 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