DRHW- Pointe Mouillee State Game Area Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 26, 2008 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 79 297 297 Osprey 1 9 9 Bald Eagle 3 26 26 Northern Harrier 4 82 82 Sharp-shinned Hawk 39 729 729 Cooper's Hawk 3 77 77 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 4 4 Broad-winged Hawk 18 285526 285526 Red-tailed Hawk 7 88 88 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 11 300 300 Merlin 0 5 5 Peregrine Falcon 2 12 12 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 Swainson's Hawk 0 4 4 Total: 167 287159 287159 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 12:15:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Calvin Brennan Observers: Frank Kitakis, Fred Kirn, Rodney Laura, Skip Zabel Visitors: Howard Glass Ron Harkness Weather: Sunny conditions were seen throughout the day with a bit of high cirrus cloud cover. Winds were highly variable, blowing from the northeast for much of the morning and early afternoon before switching to east-southeast in mid afternoon before returning to east-northeast by late afternoon. I certainly got the impression today that conditions aloft were less than ideal for migration given the disorganized flight pattern of the birds and the overall low numbers recorded. Raptor Observations: As noted, other than a brief period during the late morning, there was very little flow or organization in today’s hawk flight. Given the general wind direction for most of the day, I would have expected a better overall movement of birds but obviously there was more complexity in the weather pattern today that prevented a more substantial flight. Non-raptor Observations: The Blue Jays were undeterred by any unstableness in today’s weather pattern as they migrated through in large groups all day long. A single Common Loon was also noted (I neglected to mention a sighting of one on the 21st as well). ======================================================================== Report submitted by Calvin Brennan (common_raven@hotmail.com) SMRR- Pointe Mouillee State Game Area information may be found at: http://www.smrr.net/