Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 669 72162 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 3 58 Northern Harrier 1 23 407 Sharp-shinned Hawk 3 60 4981 Cooper's Hawk 0 10 80 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 9 80 686 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 31 355 2969 Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 11 Golden Eagle 1 22 40 American Kestrel 0 1 640 Merlin 0 4 57 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 96 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: 48 1232 98630 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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: As we enter day infinity of the high pressure system, another day of southerly winds, high pressure and warm temperatures, we begin to long for the swift interchange of highs and lows that was prevalent before this air mass set upon us. We had a hint today that change may be coming as in the later afternoon hours a band of high, thin clouds came from the west with enough density to lessen the sun’s effects considerably and swiftly passed through. This may foretell the rain to come on Tuesday night. The barometer was higher than the day before at 30.4”, dropping slightly during the day as has been its habit. The winds were lighter today, mostly from the south but taking a turn to the southeast in the afternoon that seemed to affect our fortunes. Raptor Observations: Although the winds were from the S today, as they have been for the past few days, they were a little lighter and perhaps that was why the flight line, such as it was, changed to a more east to west line still mostly observed to the north of us. Turkey vultures were nowhere to be found and in fact it took an hour and a half to find our first bird, our single harrier of the day. Only three sharp-shins were observed. Nine red-shoulders showed their crescents and thirty one red tails flapped through, having to work harder today on the lighter winds. One bald eagle pumped through in a hurry and one golden eagle also made an appearance, this one an adult. Two rough-legged hawks were noted, one of each morph. The flight started about 1030 but after 1330 when the winds shifted it seemed to abruptly end, at least to our eyes. Non-raptor Observations: The non-raptors seemed to need a day of rest too as they observed the Sabbath for the most part. Whereas yesterday the early morning hours were filled with flights of passerines in a mad rush south, today we had only a very few flights. Crows were passing through sporadically but not in really significant numbers and they slowed in the afternoon hours. Even the Bonaparte’s gulls were sitting on the water today and not flying. Swallows were seen but mostly in the distance. A single bufflehead was spotted hurrying through in the morning hours. Predictions: “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day”, perhaps Macbeth was in a seemingly endless high pressure system when his depression raged. Our tomorrow should show light southern winds with a gradual drop in the barometer throughout the day to set the stage for a Tuesday with a different look to it. Cloud and eventual rain should take place then and perhaps on Wednesday, if the stars align, we will see northern winds with a climbing barometer. That will signify something to look forward to. ======================================================================== 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