Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 10, 2020 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1149 19571 21357 Osprey 0 5 28 Bald Eagle 0 13 38 Northern Harrier 6 137 268 Sharp-shinned Hawk 164 2191 4144 Cooper's Hawk 0 22 31 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 11 13 Broad-winged Hawk 0 656 16386 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 93 218 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 6 233 620 Merlin 0 13 32 Peregrine Falcon 4 46 74 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1336 22992 43211 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 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: Another day that, in anything other than hawk-watching circumstances, would have been a welcome day. Warm breezes bringing heated air from the SW were consistent, and persistent, all day long. Although shifting more to the W rather than SW, later in the day, the steady push of the air mass against them was too much for most birds to fly close to us The lake gave a thermal shimmy to the viewing conditions. The temps rose into the mid-seventies, and the sky, though clear to start, was gradually filled with clouds that came “on little cat feet”. So gradual that you did not notice it until it was near solid white for a large percentage of the sky. It eventually took on a slightly darker, more threatening hue for a brief while, although that too crept away by day’s end. The barometer was steady at 29.9” despite the change in appearance of the sky. Raptor Observations: If I were to tell you that on this special day for numerologists (10-10-2020) that we saw ten harriers, ten peregrines, and two thousand and twenty turkey vultures, would you believe me? No, I wouldn’t buy it for a second either. We did manage to count eleven hundred and forty nine turkey vultures that proceeded in a slow but steady fashion for most of the day. They hardly ever kettled in any kind of numbers in the strong winds, but a steady trickle added up in the end. Most raptors are subject to the vagaries of the winds but there is an exception. The sharpies, those that make a living chasing other birds in close quarters, are used to the buffeting and quick direction changes and react accordingly. They trim their sails and at times present the pointed- wing tip look of a kestrel. They are thinning their wings to try and slice through heavy winds, adopting other measures too. They hide in the lee of trees; popping up and sometimes flying so low over the water that they look like “skimming stones”. (A phrase I borrowed from a good friend Don Sherwood. … OK, I stole it.)Sharpies adapt to the winds and come in all types of conditions. Today, we counted one hundred and fifty eight. Six harriers were well spaced throughout the day. Seven red-tails were also observed. We continue to be light on kestrels with only six noted today, barely beating their larger brethren, the peregrine, who had four. Although the numbers may seem respectable to most, for the counters it seemed hard work for little reward. Sometimes it’s hard to remember that not all days are going to be great and there are probably only ten special days a year where all things come together. Non-raptor Observations: There were some blue jays in the skies today as their mass exodus continues. If they were raptors we would be stunned to see so many, we are much impressed as it is. Ducks are starting to be seen in long lines off to the east. We never really get to see the ducks close up but on certain days it is special to see tens of thousands in long strings filling the sky. Swallows and gulls continue to hawk insects in the sky, moving from spot to spot to follow the prey. Predictions: Tomorrow has the potential to be a good day. The barometer will rise over night and the winds will bring cold air from the north; classic cold front, or high pressure, conditions. The winds will be NE or ENE but possibly a little stronger than we would prefer. It should be a cooler day with winds off the lake so today’s temps will be but a fond memory. Fingers crossed. ======================================================================== 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