Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 21, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 514 29367 33493 Osprey 0 5 24 Bald Eagle 0 30 64 Northern Harrier 1 130 325 Sharp-shinned Hawk 74 3182 6095 Cooper's Hawk 1 18 30 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 55 60 Broad-winged Hawk 0 15 22237 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 426 487 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 3 4 American Kestrel 2 411 1060 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: 597 33690 63977 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 11:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, 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: A late start to an active weather day today. Thunder, lightning and heavy rains started the day in fine fashion as a cold front passed, causing disturbances that finally broke the hold that the high-pressure system had on us. Winds, growing in strength, were whirling around, changing in a rapid manner from generally SW to W as we are close to the center of the low. This change in direction will continue and may actually be beneficial tomorrow. Skies were a mix of residue from the stormy weather and fractured blue skies with a jumble of benign and maleficent clouds as the trough moved away from us. The temperatures rose to the mid-sixties before dropping. The highest temp wasn’t apparent to those of us on the front lines as wind chills kept the real feel lower. The barometer began to plunge later in the day as winds picked up and the center of the low got closer. Raptor Observations: Adverse winds and inclement weather tempered the bird’s enthusiasm for travel today, or pushed them to the north beyond the range of our ocular apparatus. Despite the late start at midday, we still managed to pull in some travelers. Turkey vultures are the bird of the month and were the biggest performer today, although they disappeared in the final hour along with the other birds when the wind went west and picked up in strength. Five hundred and fourteen were counted today. One northern harrier was noted, a handsome gray ghost. Sharp-shins were trying to move today, flying into a headwind and taking a beating doing so. Seventy-four made it through. Only a pair of American kestrels were seen today, our only falcons. Five red-tailed hawks were the only buteos. Non-raptor Observations: A slow day for other species with blue jays and crows coming in very small numbers. The winds were turbulent so the gulls that were up were just enjoying flying rather than seeking food. The local eagles were also active, cruising just for the joy of it. Our local red-tail was observed “kiting”; coming to a dead stop as if it had brakes and staying in one position in a demonstration of complete mastery of the art of flying. Predictions: Tomorrow may actually have some potential as the barometer will rise overnight and the winds will be NNW and easing to a level that may permit birds to stay in our sight lines. The northern winds will drop the temperatures into the forties for most of the day. Cloud cover should continue with a mostly cloudy forecast. We should see different flight lines tomorrow but on paper the day looks good. ======================================================================== 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