Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 09, 2019 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 172 3194 51402 Osprey 0 0 35 Bald Eagle 0 9 87 Northern Harrier 1 19 284 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 145 4002 Cooper's Hawk 1 8 91 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 135 330 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 64336 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 71 772 1630 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 4 Golden Eagle 4 11 15 American Kestrel 0 3 701 Merlin 0 1 32 Peregrine Falcon 0 5 51 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: 259 4305 123002 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Frank Kitakis, Rosemary Brady Visitors: Richard came to visit us today and a lady from Oakland Audubon who brought us delicious cookies. They were fortunate to see some of the birds that made our day. A brief visit by Jim Fowler was very welcome. Weather: A gloomy gray sky met us at the start of day. SW winds that grew in strength provided resistance for those birds that chose to fly against it. The gray finally grudgingly gave way to a blue sky with high mare's tails that foretold of possible precipitation to come. The barometer was falling throughout the watch from 30.11" to under 30" by the end of day. Another cold day in the trenches but fortunately the SW winds are blocked by the tree line behind us. Raptor Observations: Despite the bad technical indicators, we had a fairly good morning. The leftovers from yesterday's flight continued to move to the north of us. 172 vultures fought their meandering way across the border. The red-tails were persistent and 71 flew into the SW wind. 10 sharp-shins and 1 Cooper's hawk managed to undulate though the winds along with 1 harrier. We have been short of golden eagles this year and finally had a day with more than two, doubling that number to 4. The wind finally asserted itself on all the birds and the flight dried up in the afternoon hours. Non-raptor Observations: Thousands of waterfowl were observed in the distance, either flying over the lake at lower levels or migrating higher up. Bonaparte's gulls seem to have taken up residence in greater numbers the last few days but those numbers are still in single digits. Only one Forster's tern was seen. Cedar waxwing flocks were observed on the other side of the slip a couple of times. Predictions: The barometer will be rising tomorrow but still below normal after bottoming out in the pre-watch hours. Lots of cloud cover and possible precipitation are forecast. Winds migrating from SW to more westerly at more moderate strengths than today may be too little too late. Not a lot of positive signs there but life is like a box of chocolates. ======================================================================== 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