Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 20, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 4011 52219 Osprey 0 0 35 Bald Eagle 0 15 93 Northern Harrier 0 74 339 Sharp-shinned Hawk 2 251 4108 Cooper's Hawk 0 33 116 Northern Goshawk 0 1 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 536 731 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 64336 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 1 3799 4657 Rough-legged Hawk 0 10 11 Golden Eagle 0 45 49 American Kestrel 0 4 702 Merlin 0 1 32 Peregrine Falcon 0 6 52 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: 3 8786 127483 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Rosemary Brady, Sam Heilman Visitors: We had some visitors from Columbus OH in search of golden eagles who happened to hit us on an off day. They did get to see the local bald eagle being harassed by a local gull who was not impressed by his king of the jungle status. Weather: Although the barometer rose by .4" overnight, the predicted sun did not show and the winds were inconsistent, the flags raising now and again with little enthusiasm from their vertical positions. Another day very much like the one before and with little more to show for the effort. Raptor Observations: Although we are over 127K birds total this year, we only added three to that number today. One juvie red-tailed flew over us and 2 sharpies were observed. This never looked like a promising day from the onset. Although we waited for the weather to change it was deja vu all over again. Non-raptor Observations: A young ruddy duck was seen close to the site separated from his flock. We spotted nearly 90 sandhill cranes in four nearly equal flights. This was the high for the year by far. A pair of common mergansers were seen racing by. A few tree swallows were seen searching for the last remaining insects in the sky. Bonaparte's gulls continue to hang around. Predictions: The only reason I like tomorrow's forecast is that things might finally get moving again. We have been in a dead zone with little frontal activity to move the birds. That will change tomorrow with "forecasted" higher winds, albeit from the wrong direction, and rain moving in. The barometer should drop nearly 5."Hg overnight and through the day. he winds will be building to double digits but from the south. All bad indicators. So what's to like? This day sets up a nice rebound on Friday with rising barometer and winds from the NW. If it all comes to pass that could be a good day. ======================================================================== 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: http://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-2019