DRHW- Pointe Mouillee State Game Area
Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 16, 2008
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 7 7 7
Osprey 2 6 6
Bald Eagle 5 6 6
Northern Harrier 3 10 10
Sharp-shinned Hawk 90 96 96
Cooper's Hawk 12 14 14
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 29175 29175 29175
Red-tailed Hawk 5 6 6
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 30 37 37
Merlin 3 3 3
Peregrine Falcon 3 5 5
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 1 1 1
Total: 29336 29366 29366
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Observation start time: 11:15:00
Observation end time: 16:45:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Calvin Brennan
Observers: Jeff Loughman, Paul Cypher, Raburn Howland, Richard Naber,
Rick Nirschl
Visitors:
It was good to see so many folks at the watch today. Thanks to everyone
that helped out. It was great to have all the extra sets of eyes out there
today.
Weather:
Skies cleared rapidly early in the day, leaving us for the most part with
clear blue and cloudless conditions. Winds were generally light and highly
variable, steadiest from the west-northwest but varying from
north-northwest to straight south.
Raptor Observations:
Broad-wing kettles began appearing at about 930EST and the flight rapidly
grew from this point in time. Movement was steady and heavy until early
afternoon when, we can speculate, much of the flight was lost at altitude
in the total blue. Larger kettles began to be detected again later in the
afternoon as the birds presumably dropped a bit and moved more inland. One
of the largest kettles of the day was actually seen during the final hour
of the count numbering in excess of 10 thousand birds. In addition to the
Broad-wing flight, the first SwainsonÂ’s Hawk of the season was noted, a
dark morph bird.
Non-raptor Observations:
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Report submitted by Calvin Brennan ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
SMRR- Pointe Mouillee State Game Area information may be found at:
http://www.smrr.net/
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