SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2006 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 230 660 660 Osprey 10 172 172 Bald Eagle 9 94 94 Northern Harrier 24 416 416 Sharp-shinned Hawk 102 3742 3742 Cooper's Hawk 5 108 108 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 4 4 Broad-winged Hawk 30547 59810 59810 Red-tailed Hawk 28 155 155 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 76 1415 1415 Merlin 0 23 23 Peregrine Falcon 4 27 27 Unknown Swainson's Hawk 0 2 2 Total: 31035 66628 66628 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 16:45:00 Total observation time: 9.25 hours Official Counter: Calvin Brennan Observers: Fred Kirn, Jim Maki, Lathe Claflin, Paul Cypher Weather: Today was sunny for the most part with variable amounts of high cirrus cloud forming in the afternoon. Winds were light and variable early in the day becoming light south-southeast by late morning, picking up somewhat in mid afternoon. Raptor Observations: The flight began very slowly with very few birds being tallied before mid morning. At that time some smaller groups of Broad-wings began appearing and built into some considerable kettles by midday. Much of this early part of the flight was low and directly over the watch. Thankfully the winds stayed light enough as the birds did eventually get pushed to the north but were still within fairly easy view. This movement from about the midday point stayed strong and continuous right through until early evening when kettles of 1,200 birds or so were still being seen. In talking with some of the long-term observers at the site, this is probably the largest movement of Broad-wings recorded this late in the month. Non-raptor Observations: ======================================================================== Report submitted by Calvin Brennan (common_raven@hotmail.com) SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at: http://www.smrr.net/