Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 22, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 2515 31882 36008 Osprey 0 5 24 Bald Eagle 1 31 65 Northern Harrier 3 133 328 Sharp-shinned Hawk 19 3201 6114 Cooper's Hawk 5 23 35 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 4 59 64 Broad-winged Hawk 3 18 22240 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 89 515 576 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 1 4 5 American Kestrel 2 413 1062 Merlin 0 25 48 Peregrine Falcon 0 23 49 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: 2642 36332 66619 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa, 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: Time to gird the loins with one more layer, preferably something with goose down in it. It could have been worse; the wind died a little as the day progressed, but it bore cold Canadian air that dropped our temps, and real feel temps, to the lowest we have had to endure this season. The skies were constantly changing, defying description in the limited scope of this format. Multi-level cloud structures moving at different speeds, complete cloud cover, partially sunny cumulus-laden skies, we had it all today. The barometer had recovered from its nadir yesterday and peaked in the morning, only to lose a little ground in the later hours. The winds waffled around the north direction all day long but dropped in strength towards the end. The flight lines varied as the wind shifted slightly and diminished. Raptor Observations: The stars seem aligned for a productive day today but it was slow to develop and some species did not hold up their end of the deal. It may be that yesterday’s rain caused a little delay in the supply lines as the best results were at the very end of the day. Turkey vultures were hard to find at the start but came on strongly in the last hour. We ended with two thousand, five hundred and fifteen. The normally reliable sharp-shins were noticeably absent with only nineteen making the board today. Three northern harriers flew high overhead. The red-tailed hawks, who were expected today given the weather conditions, made a strong showing later in the day showing up with the turkey vulture streams. We recorded eighty-nine. Four red-shouldered hawks showed their crescents today. We counted one adult bald eagle. Only two kestrels were tallied and no other falcons. Three late broadwings were also observed. One golden eagle tried to sneak past on the bottom of a turkey vulture kettle but was discovered and recorded. Cooper’s hawks seemed to like the weather and we counted five today. Non-raptor Observations: Today was the day that the crows began to assert themselves over the blue jays as the most dominant non-raptor migrators. Several hundred passed through while the blue jay numbers continue to drop. The large congregations of cormorants are no longer seen but single birds and long migrating strings are still present. The gulls assumed their usual positions as the winds lessened, up high hawking insects. The lake was giving off a lot of heat today as the difference in lake and air temperature was significant. Pied-billed grebes continue to be seen nearby. A common loon was seen flying by. Two monarchs were seen. Predictions: Winds from the W growing in strength will greet us tomorrow morning. Cloudy skies will continue to shelter us from the sun for the most part. The barometer will continue to be in the high go-zone despite the cloud cover. Temperatures will peak in the low fifties. Hopefully, the flight that finally got into high gear in the last hour will continue tomorrow. The wind direction may cause some different flight lines as the day progresses and may push the birds to the northern routes. Visibility may be diminished somewhat, since the humidity will be high and the lake will still be giving off heat. ======================================================================== 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