Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 06, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1213 2430 4563 Osprey 0 2 53 Bald Eagle 0 5 77 Northern Harrier 0 26 381 Sharp-shinned Hawk 34 440 4197 Cooper's Hawk 0 4 15 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 1 3 3 Broad-winged Hawk 0 26 107608 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 20 106 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 24 116 1101 Merlin 0 3 34 Peregrine Falcon 1 7 27 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1278 3082 118167 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, Mark Hainen 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: The line of rain that came yesterday cleared in the morning hours taking all of the clouds with it. We faced a bright blue sky with few occupants to start the day. This changed a little during the day but most of the cumulus cloud’s appearances were short lived as they were swept away. Winds were out of the west for most of the day. There was some movement to just a skoch more southerly near the end of the day. They started around seven mph, but climbed to ten with significant gusts. This is basically a head wind for the birds at our site, and like sailboats. birds prefer not to sail high on the wind but quarter off at an angle. It’s not always easy to predict the path they will take since it depends whether they are right-winged or left-winged. Temperatures reached the high sixties, higher than predicted, which will make tomorrow’s colder temps more of an adjustment. The barometer was stable for the first few hours but fell a little in the afternoon. Raptor Observations: Although we had our traditional slow start to the watch, things seemed promising in the third hour when the expected turkey vulture migration seemed to begin in earnest, with 892 coming in virtually one long stream. We ended with 1213 on the day but the flow tapered off considerably, and most of the afternoon birds were not in large groups. Kettles were not seen very often in the high winds today. Sharpies, bless their little hearts, were on a wild roller coaster ride today with the kestrels not faring much better. The wind affected all the birds but these two species bore the brunt of the punishment. At times, they flew low behind the trees to find a little shelter, but we still managed to find thirty-four sharpies and twenty-four kestrels. A single peregrine was seen stooping on blue jays in the morning. One red-shouldered hawk made an appearance, along with five red-tailed hawks. Non-raptor Observations: The most striking thing this afternoon was the appearance of many, many gulls hawking insects right in our line of sight as we tried to pick out migrants. I’m not sure what they are eating up there but all kinds of high-G aeronautical gymnastics were performed to catch whatever it is. In the slip today were the usual suspects: pied-billed grebes, mallards, shovelers, blue-winged teal, Caspian tern, and Forster’s terns. Plenty of cormorants were up flying in formation today adding to the confusion as they served as flak obstructing our view. Our vole irruption seems less obvious now so perhaps a predator has been at work during the night. Predictions: There is some rain on the radar on the western side of Michigan right now, and a sixty percent chance of rain tonight, however, it looks like it should pass through without affecting tomorrow’s watch. Winds will pick up in strength where they left off today at ten mph, possibly turning more northerly at the start of the watch, going WNW, and then climbing the speed chart to near fifteen mph at day’s end. Temperatures will stay in the mid-fifties but will feel cooler due to the chill factor. Bring an extra layer, or two. It looks like a mixture of sun and cloud will set the stage. The winds may be a little too strong for our site to see the best of the show. It might be better in the early hours when the wind is only ten mph, but today that wind was challenging to fly into. We are in the northern section of a large high-pressure system so similar conditions will last for a few more days. ======================================================================== 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