Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 03, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 637 2270 58073 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 3 4 71 Northern Harrier 1 5 358 Sharp-shinned Hawk 15 54 6438 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 40 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 19 38 356 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 201 646 2261 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1 Golden Eagle 3 13 28 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 2 51 Peregrine Falcon 2 2 58 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: 881 3035 90801 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Rosemary Brady, 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: We seem to be in a time loop similar to Groundhog Day with this weather. A massive high continues to send winds from the western quarter, waffling slightly as the day progresses, and increasing in gusty strength each day. It was light at the beginning of the day and the birds were not impressed, waiting for it to pick up speed. Our cloud cover was zero percent for the first two hours although there were some convection cumulus clouds well out over the lake. The clouds eventually filled in and left us looking at a fairly dark and moody sky, more than that was predicted, but we have seen that movie before. Temperatures were tolerable but barely so as the sun disappeared and the wind felt a little sharper. The barometer held fairly steady but dipped in the last two hours slightly, remaining over thirty inches. Raptor Observations: A late start to the movement today as the birds awaited the winds to pick up. We had better numbers on the turkey vultures today but from irregular flights with our best hour being the last one. We totaled six hundred and thirty-seven. They did drag along the red-tailed hawks with them; two hundred and one making the trek. Today they mostly stuck to the very high road when crossing our position, seeking more favorable winds aloft. The red-shoulders came early as they sometimes do, outnumbering the red-tails at times, ending the day with nineteen. We seemed to off to a good start with golden eagles as our fifth bird was number one of that species and we got one per hour for the next two hours. We ended that run at three birds. There seemed to be a lot of eagles in the air today but very distant over Canada for the most part, riding a NW wind pushing them that way at times. We did count three bald eagles today, including one striking one with extensive white ornamentation. Sharp-shins were crossing in smallish numbers, totaling only fifteen. One northern harrier was noted. Two peregrines were seen today apparently looking for sustenance since they were in no hurry to cross. Non-raptor Observations: Crows were on the move again in good numbers on various flight lines, including well out over the lake. Bonaparte’s gulls were seen riding the winds out on the water. Mute swans are still visible in increasing numbers. Swallows are still present and active. Starling murmurations continue to give guidance in finding raptors as they dance above them. Predictions: Tomorrow should be our last day of westerly winds from this system. On Friday they will shift to the dreaded SW direction and continue for four days. (Not particularly looking forward to that.) Tomorrow may be another carbon copy of today with little wind to start, and possibly the same cloud-cover changes, light in the morning and filling in later in the day. The barometer will stay above thirty inches as the high-pressure system slowly moves east. Temperatures will also be similar to today, starting in the thirties and ending in the mid-forties. Let’s hope for more of the same movement that we had today given the day looks so similar. ======================================================================== 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