Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 07, 2022 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 188 685 65478 Osprey 0 0 16 Bald Eagle 1 2 67 Northern Harrier 2 7 382 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 19 5856 Cooper's Hawk 3 4 71 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 46 65 398 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 204 394 3403 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 2 4 21 American Kestrel 0 0 981 Merlin 2 6 74 Peregrine Falcon 1 2 62 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 458 1188 144160 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Patrick Mulawa, Rosemary Brady Visitors: We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage; this is how we do our job. We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out. Weather: “I am but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.” Perhaps the winds in Denmark are different than ours as it appears the melancholy Dane got it backwards. The winds finally turned in our favor today (northerly) and we got back to work telling hawks from herons. The early wind came from the west and it gradually moved north during the day ending NNW in the final hours of the watch. The speed was around the ten-mph mark although it was on the decline later in the day. Temperatures were just shy of sixty-degrees but the skies were clear and it was a comfortable day. The barometric pressure is moving on up, ending four-tenths higher at watch’s end than the final reading we took yesterday. Raptor Observations: We are back in triple digits and the turkey vultures lost their crown in today’s count. Standing on the highest step of the podium with 204 counted were the red-tailed hawks. They have a wide variety of plumages and quite a few were on display today. Turkey vultures trailed by a few birds with 188 counted. The large kettles of October seem to be a thing of the past. The red-shouldered hawks were on the move today with the tails, numbering a respectable 46. Sharp-shins came in fourth, well off the pace with only 9 making the roll call. A trio of Cooper’s hawks passed by and our local one made several appearances as it patrolled its territory. The falcons were represented by a pair of merlins and a single peregrine falcon. Our first bird of the day was a golden eagle this morning with another one coming in the same hour, both of the birds were subadults. A pair of harriers made the clicker sing. A single bald eagle completed the count. Non-raptor Observations: Crows came by in good numbers today, mostly in the morning hours. The pelicans showed up about seventy-five strong soaring out over the lake. We saw our first trumpeter swans yesterday and there was another distant string of them today. We have yet to hear them call in their distinctive voice. Great blue herons continue to patrol the skies. Thousands of ducks were on the move today, occasionally large numbers of them would take flight out on Lake Erie, looking like small murmurations. The phragmites are releasing an incredible number of seeds, much like cottonwoods in the spring; the air is filled with them. All of the backlit small branches of trees show that they are coated with them, like hoarfrost in the winter. They are showing up in the shots of birds up in the air. Predictions: The early morning wind, just before the watch starts, are our favorite wind, NE at six mph. The winds will turn more easterly after that and pick up a little strength heading back up to ten mph. The barometer will peak during the day and then start to decline as another low with potential rain will hit us on Friday. Temperatures should drop tomorrow from the high fifties to the low end of the fifty range. There should be a little more cloud cover. Hopefully, the birds will continue to migrate close to us on the eastern winds, it should be a tail wind for them so it depends whether they turn a little to quarter on it and where that takes them. ======================================================================== 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-2022