Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 24, 2016 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 4546 30809 32129 Osprey 0 5 23 Bald Eagle 1 53 107 Northern Harrier 4 97 320 Sharp-shinned Hawk 72 1704 4210 Cooper's Hawk 4 57 101 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 6 132 133 Broad-winged Hawk 0 130 17529 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 238 881 1015 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 2 6 6 American Kestrel 0 67 545 Merlin 0 19 37 Peregrine Falcon 1 23 27 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 5 Unknown Buteo 4 27 36 Unknown Falcon 0 0 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 12 Total: 4878 34013 56237 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours Official Counter: Natalie Cypher Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady Visitors: A couple of visitors came by today, which helped a great deal with spotting! Weather: Persistent NW winds made for a chilly day! Skies were mostly cloudy and temperatures reached the low 50sF. Raptor Observations: Raptors were certainly on the move today! The day's total was 4878 birds, with 4546 Turkey Vultures and 238 Red-tailed Hawks. Steady Sharp-shinned Hawks, two Golden Eagles, a few Red-shouldered Hawks, Cooper's Hawks, Northern Harriers, and a single Peregrine Falcon provided good variety. Non-raptor Observations: American Crows were also on the move, with approximately 5000 birds counted - certainly a conservative estimate. Between the Crows and the Turkey Vultures, the sky was full with lots of big, dark birds! Predictions: Tomorrow's weather conditions will be similar, with NW winds and cool temperatures. Winds will be a little lighter than today. Good numbers of raptors should be expected again. Today's winds made spotting and counting challenging, with many birds passing south of the count site over the lake. Perhaps tomorrow's lighter winds will bring birds closer to the count site. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Detroit River Hawk Watch (greg_norwood@fws.gov) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.drhawkwatch.org