Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 02, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 287 1633 57436 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 0 1 68 Northern Harrier 1 4 357 Sharp-shinned Hawk 17 39 6423 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 40 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 19 337 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 190 445 2060 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1 Golden Eagle 4 10 25 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 2 2 51 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 56 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: 506 2154 89920 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Erika Van Kirk, Frank Kitakis, 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: The spin cycle was on today as we went from El Greco to Wordsworth and back again several times. We ended up with wandering views of Toledo as the wind blew in constant change, and light rain, and graupel for good measure. Mostly from the west, with some slight shifts, the wind grew in strength throughout the day as eventually even buteos were struggling to maintain a steady course. Some went high aloft where presumably the winds were less turbulent. The temperatures were able to climb to the mid-forties from a starting point in the mid-thirties as the watch commenced. The barometer was fairly steady with a little tail off at day’s end, still staying above thirty inches. Raptor Observations: We had a drop off in raptor numbers today from yesterday totals. Turkey vultures were light today, we ended with only two hundred and eighty-seven. We have probably put the best days for that species behind us. Red-tailed hawks continue to show up in good numbers, with many different flight lines today, including some very high mountain goat trails; we tracked down one hundred and ninety of them. Only one harrier was noted along with a single Cooper’s hawk. Four red-shouldered hawks made the grade. We did see two falcons today, both merlins. Four golden eagles were seen. One of the highlights of the day was watching a subadult bald eagle engage with a subadult golden eagle. We suspect the local bald was attempting to usher the migrating golden towards the exits a little quicker that it might have wished. The bald would dive on the golden, who would respond with complete barrel-roll defensive maneuvers throwing its talons straight up in the air while completely turning over. This happened several times although, unfortunately, it was out of camera range. They eventually went their separate ways with no loss of feathers or blood that we could see. Non-raptor Observations: Another loon sighting took place in the morning. Pied-billed grebes continue to fish nearby. There were occasional murders of crows seen to day but nothing approaching the “river of crows” that we occasionally witness. Large murmurations of starlings over Canada continue to impress. The gusty winds kept a lot of birds out of the air today but the swallows continue to ply their trade. The water was very low today and congregations of great egrets gather in the marsh near the site to feast on fish that find their avenues of escape restricted by the shallow waters. We still see occasional cormorants around but the majority seem to have left. Mute swans are more noticeable as the fly by in larger flights than before. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be more benign than today with mostly sunny skies predicted and the winds will ease, although still maintaining their mostly western component. It appears that cloud cover will increase in the afternoon hours but still leave plenty of blue sky. Temperatures will start lower and not rise as much; forty may be the top. Hopefully, with a lesser wind, we will not suffer too much. Since we will have similar conditions, albeit with less wind, we hope to see the flight of buteos continuing and perhaps some of the smaller birds will pay us a visit as their passage should be easier. ======================================================================== 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