Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 19, 2024 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 23 164 164 Osprey 1 8 8 Bald Eagle 4 21 21 Northern Harrier 24 91 91 Sharp-shinned Hawk 222 959 959 Cooper's Hawk 1 9 9 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1037 4120 4120 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 0 33 33 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 21 161 161 Merlin 0 7 7 Peregrine Falcon 2 3 3 Unknown Accipiter 0 4 4 Unknown Buteo 0 8 8 Unknown Falcon 0 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 14 14 Total: 1335 5604 5604 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6 hours Official Counter: Erika Van Kirk Observers: Frank Kitakis, Jo Patterson, Mark Hainen 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: We experienced a one-hour fog delay this morning. Once the pea soup lifted around 10:00 AM, the remnants were burned off, and we were met with mostly clear blue as far as the eye could see. Cumulus clouds (topping out at 20% cloud cover) stayed near the horizon until a few floated up to be our convenient bird-spotting backdrop in the afternoon. The temperature topped out at 77 F coming up from 72. A light breeze was our constant companion starting out from the northeast and swinging around to the southeast to end the day. Raptor Observations: Today was the first day broad-winged hawk numbers finally reached over 1,000 with 1,037 on the clicker. We were treated to a low and close kettle to start the day, and they moved up and off to the north as the day progressed. It was a triple-digit sharpie day with 222 sharp-shinned hawks distributed fairly evenly throughout the day. It was also a nice northern harrier day with 24 of the white-rumped birds cruising by in pairs among sharp-shinned hawks and broad-wings. Falcons had a decent showing with two peregrines and 21 American kestrels. We decided one osprey was migrating as well as four bald eagles, and one Cooper's hawk. Turkey vultures moved through with a modest count of 23. Non-raptor Observations: 697 blue jays moved overhead, mostly earlier in the day. 27 American white pelicans wheeled past the site today. Predictions: We're in for very light winds out of the southeast tomorrow. It's not an ideal wind, but then again, the wind forecasts are not always entirely reliable at our site. With the winds being so light and with an easterly component, broad-winged hawk movement will be happening, but it's looking like hundreds over thousands. However, nature can always surprise us in this third week of September. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (erika_vankirk@fws.gov) 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