DRHW- Lake Erie Metropark Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 11, 2008 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 28 126 126 Osprey 9 56 56 Bald Eagle 1 25 25 Northern Harrier 3 21 21 Sharp-shinned Hawk 73 212 212 Cooper's Hawk 7 28 28 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 657 859 859 Red-tailed Hawk 13 57 57 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 11 53 53 Merlin 1 5 5 Peregrine Falcon 0 2 2 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 Total: 803 1444 1444 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:00:00 Observation end time: 16:30:00 Total observation time: 9.5 hours Official Counter: Calvin Brennan Observers: Fred Kirn, John Elliott, Raburn Howland, Rodney Laura Visitors: Saul Hanft Jim Lynch Tex Wells Ron Harkness Jim Maki Joan Tisdale Weather: Another mostly sunny day was seen today with light to moderate east-southeast winds. Raptor Observations: There was a very slow build up of birds today with not much happening until late morning. The birds were spread out over a large front as is typical on east dominated winds but all of the larger kettles of Broad-wings were seen well north of the count area. The largest of these groupings was perhaps 100-120 birds. Most of the kettles though were in the 35-50 bird range or smaller. Undoubtedly there were others beyond the range of our viewing, although visibility was very good overall today with little haze which can be a limiting factor when detecting long distance Broad-wing kettles. Sharp-shins have been increasing daily as expected as seen by todays total but Kestrels have been a bit disappointing so far. One interesting encounter we witnessed today was of a Kestrel and Merlin dog-fighting their way southward in fine falcon fashion. In all today, 803 birds of 10 species were noted. Non-raptor Observations: This was by far the best day for Monarch migration so far this fall. They got underway before the hawks even really got going with steady numbers seen by mid morning. They did taper off a bit in the afternoon but overall it was a very fine day for migrating Monarchs. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Calvin Brennan ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at: http://www.smrr.net/ _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For instructions to join or leave ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdssetup.php ONTBIRDS Guidelines may be viewed at http://www.ofo.ca/information/ontbirdsguide.php
