Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 07, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 138 2439 64013 Osprey 0 0 18 Bald Eagle 3 33 171 Northern Harrier 4 10 329 Sharp-shinned Hawk 9 61 3452 Cooper's Hawk 0 9 84 American Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 18 92 258 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 6785 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1 Red-tailed Hawk 164 554 1483 Rough-legged Hawk 1 4 18 Golden Eagle 21 53 97 American Kestrel 1 1 403 Merlin 1 1 24 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 30 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 15 Unknown Buteo 0 7 38 Unknown Falcon 0 0 13 Unknown Eagle 0 2 5 Unknown Raptor 0 1 29 Total: 360 3270 77267 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess Observers: Don Sherwood, Frank Kitakis, Jerry Jourdan, Jo Patterson, Johannes Postma, Rosemary Brady Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie MetroPark. We are willing to spread the gospel with pamphlets and information cards, along with tips on IDing the raptors, and photography tips for those behind the cameras. Let us share our enthusiasm for this miracle of nature with you. Weather: All hawk watches are dependent on the vagaries of the winds. Today, the winds were especially vagarious and we watched the flight line change from over the lake in the morning hours to the opposite side of the sky in the afternoon. The day started with solid stratus overcast skies directly above us but blue skies off to the west. The morning winds took care of that in a hurry, ushering the clouds out over the lake and leaving us with a few cumulus clouds of little mass that were soon to be distant memories as a dome of blue took procession of the ether. Winds were all over the map as the wind turbines in Canada were having difficulty keeping up. Essentially, they traveled around the top half of the compass from northwest to south with lulls and increases thrown in for good measure. Of course, the default afternoon direction is south, which tends to move the birds further to the north of us and makes our mission harder to accomplish. Not our favorite wind and our count probably suffered due to that, along with the early morning northwest wind which favors our colleagues at Holiday Beach. The temperatures were in the mid-fifties range and the barometer was high after rebounding from the rainy low-pressure that moved through a couple of nights ago. Raptor Observations: It isn’t often that golden eagles earn a podium finish but it happened today. Red-tailed hawks were in the mood to move as the high-pressure area winds after the low were in their wheelhouse for migration. We counted one hundred and sixty-four of them. I think we probably left some on the table due to the unfavorable shifts in the winds. Turkey vultures have nearly run their race as the October numbers dwindle down to triple digits. One hundred and thirty-eight made the clicker today. Golden eagles were on the third step of the podium with twenty-one handsome specimens flying by. The clear skies and good light helped us to ID these magnificent birds from a distance, although some were close when the winds were right. We often talk about the “four o’clock golden eagles” and today, three of them showed up as our final birds. Good ole sharpies came in next, with nine of them finding their way south. Northern harriers mustered four birds, one a gray ghost. Three bald eagles were migrants, but plenty of locals seemed to be up playing talon tag in the morning hours. We missed the falcon hat trick today for want of a peregrine, but we did have one each of the merlin and kestrel species. Also in single digits was a dark-morph rough-legged hawk. Non-raptor Observations: White pelicans were seen over the lake today but only four in number, a mere pittance by their standards. Outnumbering them were the mute swans who mustered five in a late flyby. A pair of red-bellied woodpeckers were playing chase in the nearby maple tree. Rusty blackbirds were reported nearby. Bonaparte’s gulls are keeping the ring-billed and herring gulls company. Cormorants were still migrating and being observed as single birds nearby. A lot of ducks of unknown heritage were up stretching their wings today in the distant skies. Crows were very much in evidence today with nearly seven thousand being counted. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be similar to today in appearance, with mostly clear skies, a fractionally warmer temperature and similar barometric pressure. Winds are predicted to be from the west, turning northwest later in the day, but who knows what will really transpire. Wind speeds are predicted to climb from ten mph at the beginning of the watch, peak at twelve mph, and then drop slightly as the watch ends. The winds do not particularly favor our site but golden eagles don’t seem to care about no stinking wind so maybe they will continue their pilgrimage through our area tomorrow. Fingers crossed. ======================================================================== 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