Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 02, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 51 51 71544 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 1 56 Northern Harrier 6 6 390 Sharp-shinned Hawk 8 8 4929 Cooper's Hawk 1 1 71 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 30 30 636 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 50 50 2664 Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 9 Golden Eagle 1 1 19 American Kestrel 0 0 639 Merlin 0 0 53 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 94 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 149 149 97547 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: Tomorrow appears to start a week’s worth of southerly winds with higher pressures and warmer temperatures. Although these are not our favorite winds, perhaps if they are of moderate strength we may not suffer too much. We had a week like this in September and it wasn’t too kind, so fingers crossed. Weather: It was another day of high winds, this time from the WSW at first, but then shifting to a more permanent SW location and growing to an irresistible strength near 20 mph. The barometer started at a healthy 30.3” but dropped a significant .26” during the day. The clouds wandered in, resembling tectonic plates trying to reassemble Pangaea, the ancient supercontinent. The relentless wind soon blew that collage off to the NE. The trees were dancing on the other side of the cove and the combination of the winds and pressure drop took their toll on the movement of raptors. On Marine Traffic some of the ships were at anchor today waiting for the winds to ease a little, perhaps the birds went “on the hook” too. Raptor Observations: When the wind was more westerly and at a less strength we did have some movement of raptors. The buteos were the most common when totaled together. We saw thirty red-shoulders and fifty red-tailed hawks but in the later afternoon hours they were somewhere else. The morning hours gave us some turkey vultures but perhaps their race is mostly run for the October bird as we move into November. We ended with fifty one. Six harriers were observed with three transiting together. Eight sharp-shins fought their way through early in the day. One Cooper’s hawk was noted in a small mixed kettle. Our exotics came through for us today with one light morph rough-legged hawk and one golden eagle, both observed in the first afternoon hour. Non-raptor Observations: The gulls and swallows were center stage again today, although both of them waited until the afternoon hours to make themselves the dominant birds in the sky. A small flock of Bonaparte’s gulls were seen feeding on the far side of the slip. Horned larks were noted in a small flock flying south. Predictions: Tomorrow appears to start a week’s worth of southerly winds with higher pressures and warmer temperatures. Although these are not our favorite winds, perhaps if they are of moderate strength we may not suffer too much. We had a week like this in September and it wasn’t too kind, so fingers crossed. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jerry Jourdan (jerry.jourdan@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