Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 06, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 72 622 72115 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 0 2 57 Northern Harrier 4 20 404 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 40 4961 Cooper's Hawk 2 7 77 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 66 672 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 76 215 2829 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 9 Golden Eagle 0 17 35 American Kestrel 1 1 640 Merlin 0 3 56 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: 169 994 98392 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs.If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: Déjà vu all over again; warm temps, winds from SW or S, fairly clear blue skies and barometer steady near 30.2”. Although there was a light cirrus haze high in the blue sky, the problem for us was a very thick thermal haze to the north caused by the lake giving up water content to the warm air. Our viewing conditions were impeded during the midday hours especially. The winds increased up to eleven mph before falling in the afternoon hours bringing warm air and temps near seventy, an atypical November day for sure. Raptor Observations: The raptors came from the north again today flying into the S wind when we picked them up. The birds used little of the sky to move today as in the previous few days. It seemed that when the wind went S from SW the movement picked up. The late afternoon hours were fairly barren as it has been the last few days during this large high pressure system. Turkey vultures led the way with seventy two birds but they came in small groups. Four harriers, including three at once with a gray ghost included, passed through. Ten sharp-shins and two Cooper’s hawks made the grade. The buteos were riding the winds today with only four red-shoulders and fifty six red-tails floating through taking their time; it wasn’t really a moving wind in which they shoot through at speed. Perhaps the surprise bird of the day was a single kestrel. It’s been a while since we have seen one. No golden eagles today but one was reported outside the park. Our conditions for viewing were horrendous in the midday hours when most of the birds were moving. Non-raptor Observations: Relatively quiet on the non raptor front as the morning hours presented very little to look at. The exception being migrating flocks of blackbirds, including brown-headed cowbirds in large numbers. Later in the day the tree swallows appeared over a channel between some of the Gibraltar islands. A couple of Boneys were hunting for minnows out in front of us but too far away for pictures. Predictions: A dramatic shift in the winds tomorrow, from S to SSW, well, maybe not so dramatic, but we are looking for change. This high pressure will last through Monday before the pressure slowly begins to drop with possible rain late Tuesday. Wind strength should be moderate tomorrow in the mid single digits. It will be perhaps another day of a couple of hours of movement with fairly low numbers on the day. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg (kevin.l.georg@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