Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 9571 45607 49726 Osprey 0 5 24 Bald Eagle 2 34 66 Northern Harrier 5 155 347 Sharp-shinned Hawk 30 3308 6219 Cooper's Hawk 1 24 34 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 87 170 175 Broad-winged Hawk 0 18 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 279 854 915 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 4 8 9 American Kestrel 3 420 1066 Merlin 0 25 48 Peregrine Falcon 4 27 53 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 9986 50655 80656 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Alex Gilford, Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Mark Hainen, Shourjya Majumder 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. 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: Back in the saddle again after a brief respite for rain, rain, and more rain. The low-pressure system was ushered out of here by a robust and unrelenting wind from the northern quarter. If you read the forecast carefully, you knew to wear an extra layer, or preferably two. The skies were fairly consistent today with a partly cloudy sky of attractive cumulus clouds providing excellent assistance in viewing the parade of birds that passed by. The winds may have been a little strong for us to see all of the birds on the move but we were busy all day, with a little OT thrown in for good measure. Temperatures barely breached the fifty-degree barrier and the winds made it seem less than that. Winds stayed in the ten to fifteen mph range all day with some significant gusts. The barometer was almost stable with only small changes, right around the thirty-inch mark. Raptor Observations: Our concern, when you have strong winds from the north, is that the birds will end up over the lake out of our view. They end up in the view of our colleagues at Holiday Beach. Fortunately, enough of the birds decided to fight their way north into the wind to make our day an interesting one. The flight path planners were apparently using the Chaos Theory as fractal patterns seemed to emerge in the helter-skelter manner that the vultures used. It wasn’t uncommon to see kettles split up and develop multiple streaming lines at once. Regardless, we managed to track nine thousand, five hundred and seventy-one of the rascals. They were having a great time in the high winds showing off their flying skills. Buteos usually follow the lead of the vultures and we managed to tag two hundred and seventy-nine red-tailed hawks and eighty-seven red-shouldered hawks. One of the red-tails showed signs of being leucistic with a partially red tail but mostly white otherwise. Five northern harriers were noted. One Cooper’s hawk made the count. The falcons had a rare day in which the peregrines, with four, outnumbered the kestrels, with three. We counted two bald eagles today and what am I forgetting? Oh yes, four golden eagles. All of which gave us a wide berth. It took several years before I got a close shot of one of those birds so we all have to be patient. Non-raptor Observations: Crows were on the move today as once again they occasionally crossed paths with distant vultures, causing some confusion at times. Forster’s terns were present in the early hours. Occasionally, blue jays can still be seen but in small numbers. Flights of migrating cormorants can be seen but most of our local birds seem to have deserted us. Nervous ducks (hunting season) continue to fly by the site. Predictions: Tomorrow seems to hold promise. The winds will continue from the north but in a more tempered manner, staying in the gap between five and ten mph. Skies will be mostly cloudy. The barometer will remain in the thirty plus range. Temperatures will rise into the fifties again but the northern wind will keep us feeling chill. A lot of birds flew today and if the rain did not disrupt the pipeline too much, they should continue tomorrow. ======================================================================== 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