Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 11, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 6 6 Osprey 0 3 3 Bald Eagle 2 11 11 Northern Harrier 0 18 18 Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 458 458 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 3 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 14 12518 12518 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 74 74 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 134 134 Merlin 0 7 7 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 5 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: 28 13237 13237 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: Please take a moment to remember those innocents lost on this date and the responders that gave their lives trying to save them 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: The morning radar showed storms to the left of us, storms to the right of us, volleying and thundering. Somehow, perhaps due to the Fermi Dome that seems to shelter us from violent weather, the whole wet mess managed to stay away, although it seemed to be imminent when we retired for the day. The wind was mostly SE with occasional gusts that felt good in the high humidity. The cloud cover that was solid at the beginning of the day started to break up in the mid-morning hours and somehow managed, despite the veritable smorgasbord of different cloud types arrayed in front of us, to keep a hole open so that we didn’t lose the sun at our specific spot. Our level of comfort suffered because of this generosity as the humidity was significant. The day did not have much to recommend it for hawk migration, southerly winds and rainy weather all around us are not our best conditions. It did turn out to be a slow day with only twenty-eight birds showing up. Raptor Observations: September is broad-winged hawk month and today they resumed their rightful place at the top of the list, albeit with only fourteen birds. Sharp-shins were not far behind with eleven counted. One red-tailed hawk drifted by. We did count two determined looking bald eagles that were on the migratory path. It was a slow day with lots of looking but not much finding. Non-raptor Observations: Another slow day on the non-raptor front. Even our local birds seemed to be taking the day off. We did see some bald eagles but they didn’t stay long in our area. Mute swans were gathered at the end of Celeron Island where the water is shallow. A great blue heron made an occasional distant appearance. The swallows were still busy in their constantly erratic flights in search of insects. Predictions: The barometer will be much lower tomorrow with much cooler temperatures. Winds from the SW will reach double digits. There should be some cloud cover and possible rain. This does not bode well for migrating raptors. I suspect that possibly Tuesday, as the barometer rebounds and the winds are from the WNW may be a better day, when the clouds clear. Wednesday may have more potential with NE winds late. It depends when the winds shift and it is often difficult to predict with accuracy, a few hours can make a big difference. ======================================================================== 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