Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 2719 8169 9897 Osprey 0 3 26 Bald Eagle 1 10 35 Northern Harrier 33 72 193 Sharp-shinned Hawk 304 879 2830 Cooper's Hawk 2 10 19 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 3 6 8 Broad-winged Hawk 243 571 16216 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 16 53 178 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 38 125 509 Merlin 0 7 26 Peregrine Falcon 7 25 53 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3366 9931 29992 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, 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: After taking a rain day off we returned to find a scene more at home on the moors of England than the shores of Lake Erie. Columns of lake steam rose off the water drifting towards the lake pushed by the gentle winds. The sky was overcast and our two distance markers, the stacks and Canada, were completely obscured by fog and cloud. The sun made a feeble attempt to penetrate the dense veil but with little result. Fortunately this day was destined to be the opposite of our recent blue starts and gray endings and panels of blue began to appear at the end of the first hour. By the afternoon hours there was very little evidence of the opaque start to the day. The barometer stayed high but did show about a tenth and half drop towards the final hour. Winds were light and variable to start as we found ourselves in a transition zone again. They grew stronger during the later hours and that may have affected the flight line as the birds were pushed to the N into a hazy sky. Raptor Observations: The birds were quite content to migrate today and the lazy, at first, winds kept them in our wheelhouse. Twenty seven hundred and nineteen turkey vultures wafted through in their inimitable way. One bald eagle was counted as migrating, but plenty of locals were up and playing tag as the winds grew. The buteo contingent was well represented today with two hundred and forty three broad-winged hawks, three red-shouldered hawks and sixteen red-tailed hawks. Falcons were present and accounted for with seven peregrine falcons and thirty eight kestrels seen on the day. Accipiters were also on the move with three hundred and four sharp-shinned hawks and two Cooper’s hawks. Non-raptor Observations: It was a fairly quiet day on the non- raptor front. One lesser yellowlegs was seen flying by trying his best to imitate a kestrel. The gulls were not a real problem today, although the swallows were present early in the day feeding just above the water by Celeron Island. On the new rock jetty by Celeron we could see American white pelicans roosting although our view was obscured so an accurate count was not possible. The blue jays were still moving, although from our viewpoint the numbers seemed much diminished. A couple of monarch butterflies were seen. Predictions: Tomorrow has a falling barometer and increasing winds from the SW. Not my favorite things by any means. The barometer will bottom out on Wednesday and start to rebound on Thursday with NW winds. That looks favorable. Tomorrow should see sharpies, kestrels and harriers but we may not be able to see them well if they are pushed to the north by the winds. ======================================================================== 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