Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 5154 41112 42898 Osprey 0 9 32 Bald Eagle 0 20 45 Northern Harrier 10 173 304 Sharp-shinned Hawk 151 2498 4451 Cooper's Hawk 2 35 44 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 9 32 34 Broad-winged Hawk 1 677 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 113 392 517 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 2 2 2 American Kestrel 6 246 633 Merlin 3 18 37 Peregrine Falcon 2 56 84 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 2 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 5453 45272 65491 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg 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: Yesterday was a rainout and I hope you don’t mind that we took the time off to recharge the batteries; 90 days of staring through binoculars all day can be a challenge. The atmosphere recharged today too with the barometer rising to 30.2” to start, falling a tenth as clouds began to fill the once pristine blue sky in the afternoon hours. Winds were from the mostly SW direction but grew from a low starting point and seemed to vary in strength throughout the day. It was fairly robust most of the day but the birds did not seem to mind. Raptor Observations: The turkey vultures were on the move today with a slow start until the winds increased, building to a mad rush for the exits as the day ended. We worked overtime to accommodate them today. The final count was five thousand one hundred and fifty four, over three thousand coming in the last two hours. Harriers were present and accounted for with ten, including one gray ghost. Sharp-shins were, as usual, flying and we tallied one hundred and fifty one. Two Cooper’s hawks kept them company in the accipiter division. Buteos came today, a lot of them with the turkey vultures; we counted one hundred thirteen red-tailed hawks, nine red-shouldered hawks and one broad-winged hawk. Their numbers diminished as the day progressed. The falcons presented a hat trick with six kestrels, 3 merlins and two peregrines. Last but not least, the highlight of the day was when Don Sherwood found our first two golden eagles of the season hiding below a raft of turkey vultures. True to form they came near four o’clock. We have a running joke about the four o’clock golden eagle as they often appear at that hour. The fun was increased when one of them was engaged with an adult bald eagle who was perhaps being protective of its territory and they interacted for a few minutes thrusting and parrying as they flew across the sky. Non-raptor Observations: We had an interesting day with non-raptors today with Bonaparte’s gulls showing up early in the morning. Forster’s terns, at times a doppelganger for Boneys, were there too and feeding nearby, although only two of them were close. American white pelicans were also on the menu today with three sightings in various numbers, totaling thirty five or so in the last appearance. Blue jays did not seem too numerous so we send our best wishes to our friends in Canada in their quest to see their millionth blue jay this season during today’s watch. We did see a couple of murders of crows so the season has perhaps changed. The crows usually follow the blue jays in migration. Predictions: I would advise that that you take the next few days predictions with a grain of salt. The weather looks to be unsettled with a lot of blue on the graphs indicating rain in various probabilities. We had a good day on the rebound from yesterday’s low pressure and rain today as the pressure came up and the winds were not too punitive. Tomorrow may be more of the same as the barometer will rise till midday then fall with increasing SW winds. Cloud cover should be extensive later in the day. Rain is predicted for Sunday although it may come after the watch. There appears to be a chance of rain for most of next week so we will have to see how it plays out. These conditions may change each day and timing may be crucial to when and if things happen. ======================================================================== 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