Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 06, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 6 6 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 1 1 Northern Harrier 1 10 10 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 27 27 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 4 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 228 228 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 15 15 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 17 17 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 Unknown Accipiter 0 2 2 Unknown Buteo 0 3 3 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 1 1 Total: 2 316 316 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Michael Patrikeev Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Jo Patterson, Michelle Peregord 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: Transitions in weather systems are hard to predict. As much as we deride weathermen, nature decides what will happen and when. We had a cold front sweep through this morning giving us a line of rain that passed through before the watch started. Although the barometer was predicted to rise, it stayed around the thirty-inch mark and actually dropped towards the end of the day. Cloud cover was a mix of cumulus, and cirrus, when we could see the high sky through the infrequent gaps in the clouds. Towards the end of the day, it darkened considerably and started to sprinkle a little moisture on us. The wind, which had been coming from the southwest before the watch, did an about face and gradually started to make its way north, increasing in strength, lingering around west-north-west before a sudden increase in strength and a shift to northwest in the early afternoon hours. That sudden increase in strength was perhaps the highlight of the day as it seemed to happen instantaneously with a jump from ten to fifteen mph, a WTH moment. Needless to say, this was not ideal migration weather and the birds stayed away from our site in droves. Raptor Observations: Today, I was reminded of one of America’s great philosophers and his astute observation that “If people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them.” Of course, Yogi Berra’s wisdom applies to birds too. Sharp-shins and harriers are press-on-regardless type of birds that are not as wind dependent as the buteos, but even they could muster only one representative a piece. Local eagles and turkey vultures were not as plentiful today. Non-raptor Observations: The windy and dark conditions seemed to affect our local birds too as they were not as much in evidence as previous days. A Carolina wren was heard in the surrounding trees. Our territorial Caspian terns had a dust up another Caspian that had the temerity to invade their space. Mostly noise, but that was effective in repelling the invader. Gulls were present, but in diminished numbers. The same goes for the swallows. I could see a caucus of cormorants fishing collectively near Celeron Island, the first gathering of the clan that I had seen this season. I suspect the size of the flock will increase significantly as the season moves on. Predictions: The barometer should begin to climb sharply tomorrow, the winds will remain NW. There will still be a small chance of showers and diminishing cloud cover as the day progresses so we should have more sun. We may need it, as the temperatures, aided by a robust northwest wind, will only climb to the sixty-degree mark. Wind strength will be a major issue as it is predicted to stay slightly under the fifteen-mph mark most of the day. This is probably a wind that will produce birds but it is a little too strong for our site, usually pushing the birds out of our sight to parts unknown. ======================================================================== 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