Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 538 2173 2173 Osprey 0 51 51 Bald Eagle 5 72 72 Northern Harrier 21 355 355 Sharp-shinned Hawk 157 3757 3757 Cooper's Hawk 3 11 11 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 73 107584 107584 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 13 86 86 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 68 985 985 Merlin 2 31 31 Peregrine Falcon 1 20 20 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 881 115127 115127 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Michelle Peregord Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site and are very willing to share migration information, photography and ID tips with them. We have cards and pamphlets, so come and talk to us. However, during times of high traffic, requiring extra focus and concentration, we would respectfully ask that everyone use their indoor voices and allow us to fulfill our mission to the best of our abilities. Thank you. Weather: Well, the weather curse on us has apparently lifted enough to give us hope for the future. I fear for the Philadelphia Phillies however, as a patron accompanied by his service alligator was denied entry to the ballpark the other day. Baseball aficionados can see clear parallels to the Goat Curse that kept the Cubs out of the World Series for many decades. The Phillies may be punished with having Ángel Hernández behind the plate calling balls and strikes for eternity. But I digress. Due to foggy conditions, we started the watch an hour later today. The wind turned southerly much earlier than predicted, but at a moderate strength so most of the birds not as sensitive to the wind direction kept on coming, When the wind, reached its top speed of eight mph after settling in the S, all traffic slowed considerably in the last hour. Temperatures were moderate as well, topping out at just over seventy degrees. The barometer was high at over 30.2 inches. The skies were mostly blue but later in the day we had accumulated enough cumulus clouds to use as markers to help locate birds. Raptor Observations: We had much more turkey vulture traffic in the morning hours, but the southern wind may have pushed them to the north, making their appearances more infrequent. We managed to tally 538 but had a feeling that there were on the wing today. Sharp-shins were back in their customary second place with 157 showing up. A nice rebound from the last few days when they were voting with absentee ballots. Broad-winged hawks are still moving through, sometimes kettling with the TVs. Most of the birds seem to be juveniles when we can see to ID them. Seventy-three were noted today. Kestrels were also frequent fliers today with sixty-eight of them racing by. The falcon hat trick was completed with two merlins and one peregrine who was seen kettling with turkey vultures and stooping on one of them with no harm done. Northern harriers were also active today with twenty-one counted, some of them coming in ménage à trois arrangements. Bald eagles were in a moving mood today with five of them counted. The red-tailed hawks have seen an uptick in numbers on our best day yet with thirteen birds, that number will soon be eclipsed as we get further into October. Three Cooper’s hawks were also counted today. Non-raptor Observations: Our little flock of shoveler ducks were flying back and forth today making their presence known. Blue jays were not as plentiful in the morning hours and were not really seen during the afternoon hours. Monarchs were on the MIA list with only forty-six showing up. Most of the day we were kept busy with looking for sharpies and kestrels so not much time to devote to “other observations”. Predictions: Tomorrow will be a virtual repeat of today. Very low winds are predicted, NE pre-watch, turning southerly around midday. Of course, mere zephyrs are hard to predict so expect light and variable winds with no real push to force birds away. It will rise in strength in the afternoon but only to five mph, again from the south. Temperatures will be very similar and a partly cloudy sky is predicted. The barometer will be high again. Our fortunes, now that the curse has been lifted, remain tied to the winds. The winds will probably bear no resemblance to the forecast, but hope springs eternal and we should see some more traffic tomorrow. Turkey vultures are getting antsy and want to move, especially the premature evacuators. Sharpies, kestrels and harriers should be moving as well. ======================================================================== 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-2023