Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 05, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 87 9554 16829 Osprey 0 0 14 Bald Eagle 0 6 37 Northern Harrier 5 22 253 Sharp-shinned Hawk 46 344 3220 Cooper's Hawk 1 11 35 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 35 38 Broad-winged Hawk 0 25 67284 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 2 276 457 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 2 2 American Kestrel 3 36 790 Merlin 0 5 30 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 25 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 144 10320 89014 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: Momma said there’d be days like this. Both the wind turbines and migrants responded with a lethargic shrug to this morning’s mere zephyr of a wind. It took some time to get settled and find a direction it liked, unfortunately, it wasn’t a direction that we liked. As a consequence, the birds were pushed by the southern winds to the north of us where the shimmering haze of lake evaporation made sightings difficult. The temperatures rose above the seventy-degree mark by a couple, and with little wind it was time to shed a layer. The barometer continued to fall as a prelude to probable rain tomorrow night. There was a light layer of high, thin clouds today but nothing of substance. We’ll see if the rain actually shows up as nothing on the radar looks particularly threatening right now. Raptor Observations: Perhaps in the first week in September we might have been satisfied with 144 birds but we are used to four-digit numbers by now so today was not a day that will make our memoirs. We saw one movement of turkey vultures that totaled 87 birds just after noon when the wind was rising a little. They led the way, numerically, with good ole reliable sharpies offering some relief from the ennui. We counted 46, mostly solo birds. Next on the list were harriers with 5 counted, two of them noted as a female closely following a gray ghost at a very high altitude. Although we often see pairs of harriers, the gray ghosts (adult males) usually fly solo. American kestrels numbered 3 today with no other falcons observed. A pair of red-tailed hawks were seen. Bringing up the rear was a single Cooper’s hawk. Although we did our golden eagle dance along with the secret incantations, it all went for naught. Non-raptor Observations: The pelicans are down to the occasional flight of four or five birds over the lake, the large masses having moved to a different location. Another day without seeing the large assemblages of cormorants, although there are still birds around as singles. Warblers and kinglets were in the alder tree to our right with yellow-rumped and blackpoll warblers, crimson and golden-crowned kinglets noted. White-throated sparrows were also seen in good numbers. Our blue jay count continues to taper off with only a few hundred noted today. A few decent sized flocks of blackbirds and starlings were seen crossing today along with some brown-headed cowbirds. A handful of monarchs continued their migration. Two Forster’s terns were seen diving in the slip. We had not seen these birds for some time as their usual roosting place on the base of the entrance buoy had been usurped by a pair of cormorants. Predictions: Tomorrow may be the last warm day for a while with temps predicted to hit seventy again before dropping twenty degrees following the cold front that should cause some precipitation as it passes. Winds will be SW and rising over ten mph during the day and the barometer will be falling below thirty inches. Clouds should be increasing but the day is still described as partly cloudy with a small cloud and a big sun as the symbol. Signs for this day are all pretty negative for our site as the winds will be stronger than today from the same direction. We may end up looking more fondly on this day after 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-2022