Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 11, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 5 3869 59672 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 0 9 76 Northern Harrier 0 13 366 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 119 6503 Cooper's Hawk 0 3 42 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 106 424 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 21 1337 2952 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 2 Golden Eagle 4 38 53 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 0 10 59 Peregrine Falcon 1 4 60 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: 32 5509 93275 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Kevin Georg Observers: Bill Perigord, Kevin Georg, Patrick Mulawa Visitors: Tomorrow is the day that the road to the site is being repaired. Park in the museum parking lot and take the boardwalk to the boat launch. Weather: It looked like a pleasant day until something evil came our way and we retreated in the face of purple clouds and severe weather warnings. The winds grew throughout the day, climbing to over fifteen mph with some to spare. Our site was strangely calm since we were sheltered almost completely from the turmoil. The white horses were running free on the lake and even up the river by Celeron Island. One had only to look at the birds to see that the winds were having an effect on them as their heads were pointed in one upwind direction but they were swept sideways on the current. Temperatures reached over sixty until the cold front reached us and knocked them down a little. The early skies showed little evidence of threat with high cirrocumulus and cirrostratus clouds in attractive shapes dominating until the leading edge of the advancing front reached us. The barometer dropped every hour, reaching a low in the 29.6 inHg range. It will begin a very gradual rebound tomorrow, taking a few days to reach north of 30 inches again. Raptor Observations: As is now our custom, we got off to a roaring start with zero birds in the first hour. It was going to be a difficult day to begin with, facing a stiff wind ushering the birds out of sight. We did manage to have a little run during the second and third hours before the winds became irresistible. Turkey vultures decided to sit this one out for the most part with only five showing up. Red-tailed hawks are still moving but I think we only caught the edge of the movement in the early hours and nothing later on. We ended with twenty-one birds on the day. Only one sharp-shinned hawk was seen, flying sideways. This species is usually buffeted by high winds and today was no exception. One peregrine falcon was noted as it crossed the water to the south of us. We managed to keep our run of golden eagles going with four birds, all subadults. This was the one bird that seemed to have the power to hold up in the wind but the one that flew over us was still working hard to stay on course. The others were down low in the tree line to the north and only provided glimpses as they passed. Non-raptor Observations: The Bonaparte’s gulls provided the afternoon’s entertainment since no raptors could be seen. They finally came close to our site, perhaps because of the choppy water further out towards the river. Another horned grebe was seen today, also a pied-billed grebe. Not many crows were seen today, and not counting the plentiful tree swallows, except for the few raptors we noted, the skies were fairly empty. Predictions: Robust SW winds will continue tomorrow in the low to mid-teens range. The barometer will rebound up to the 29.8 inHg. It looks like cloud cover will be fairly extensive, although the strong winds and turbulence may make forecasting difficult. There is a small chance of rain. Although I hope to see some interesting birds, the SW winds will be pushing any migrants to a place where we cannot see them easily. The temperatures will crack fifty degrees again but cooler days are coming as the forties loom in the coming days. ======================================================================== 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