Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 04, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 3 7 7 Bald Eagle 0 1 1 Northern Harrier 1 11 11 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 19 19 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 162 162 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 8 8 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 1 23 23 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 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: 5 233 233 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, 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: When Dorothy Parker asked “What fresh hell is this?” she may have been experiencing a similar experience to ours today. It was a day of uncomfortable weather and virtually no birds. Transitions between pressure systems rarely follow the script as the weather waffles back and forth and today was no exception. It was hot and humid though the first half of the day as we sat shielded from the southern winds in the lee of the tree line behind us. Although the flags were flying across the slip, we felt nothing and had little relief from the hot sun peeking through light cloud cover. Later in the afternoon after the barometer had started its slight decline and the clouds thickened slightly it began to feel a little cooler. This gave us some relief from the temperatures but did nothing to ease our disappointment with the lack of birds. We didn’t expect much, but also did not expect so little, perhaps the last two days spoiled us. Raptor Observations: The raptor wrap up will be short today. One kestrel, one harrier and three ospreys. None of which came in the final five hours of the watch. Non-raptor Observations: The ring-billed gulls and Caspian terns were busy today. We are seeing mixed flocks of swallows and purple martins working the sky, usually very high. The male mallards are just starting to molt out of their summer eclipse. A black-crowned night heron was seen flying by the site early in the morning. We noted our first line of red-winged blackbirds bounding through today. Some warblers were reported in the park but not at our site. Predictions: Tomorrow will be interesting. There is rain forecast for the early morning hours but it should clear just as we start the watch. There are NW winds predicted during that time but the barometer looks to be bouncing up and down during the day. This might indicate that we are at an interface of two systems and probably that all the forecasts are computer generated speculation. The most likely scenario, but not necessarily what will happen. The skies will clear and possibly the NW wind at moderate speeds will overcome the low barometer reading send a few raptors our way. At least some sharpies, kestrels and harriers might show their tails. ======================================================================== 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 Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at: https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2021