Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2021 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 782 3052 58855 Osprey 0 0 24 Bald Eagle 2 6 73 Northern Harrier 0 5 358 Sharp-shinned Hawk 12 66 6450 Cooper's Hawk 0 1 40 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 19 57 375 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 21973 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 198 844 2459 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1 Golden Eagle 6 19 34 American Kestrel 0 0 1068 Merlin 2 4 53 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 58 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: 1021 4056 91822 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Maddie Holden, Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady, 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: I’ll take a dark sky, heavy on the clouds, please. Said no one…ever. Partly cloudy ended up being mostly cloudy except for one brief period of mottled blue and white. At the end of the day, there was precipitation all around us and a very small amount fell on us for good measure. The barometer stayed above thirty inches which should be clear blue skies and low moisture content but for the fourth day in a row we looked at menacing clouds that dominated the view. Winds were low to begin with and the birds were slow to start. The strength grew to about seven miles per hour but the direction, although mostly NW was not consistent and seemed restless, shifting from time to time. The moderate winds made the temperatures, which barely breached forty degrees, more tolerable. Raptor Observations: A slow start to the day, with a frantic middle hour, and a tapering off to end. The turkey vultures led the way, of course, with a total of seven hundred and eighty-two. They came in some nice kettles on a mostly favorable line for us to count. Sharp-shins were not too obvious today with only twelve birds showing up. Only two falcons were observed today, both were merlins, including one that dove on some of the crows that passed in large numbers today. The majority of the red-tails came in one hour as things were hopping with multiple flight lines. We ended with one hundred and ninety-eight on the day with one hundred and four in the first afternoon hour. We had nineteen red-shouldered hawks today, keeping the red-tails company. We had a good eagle day with two bald eagles and six golden eagles, three goldens arriving in the last hour. Non-raptor Observations: Crows were in the OMG! range today with some very dense murders, approaching genocides, passing by on all sides. Bonaparte’s gulls were present today in small numbers working the waters on the other side of the slip. Some small fights of migrating ducks were seen off in the distance. Mute swans continue fly-bys in the morning. We still await the arrival of the tundra swans who will, no doubt, announce their presence with a hearty “whoop”. Pied-billed grebes are still being seen in front of us. Starlings are very plentiful. I saw one small flock sitting in a tree surrounding a local bald eagle. Predictions: Friday looks to be a better day as far as lighting is concerned with a mostly sunny forecast. The winds will be finally changing from their western bent with a switch to the south. They should be light, below five mph, and that may save our flight from being blown out of sight, if they choose to move on light winds. Temperatures may reach the high forties but will get there from below freezing during the night. The barometer will remain above thirty inches, even higher than today. Kind of a wait and see day, but we have had good movement lately so hopefully it will continue. ======================================================================== 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