Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 03, 2016
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 861 864 37352
Osprey 0 0 23
Bald Eagle 1 2 126
Northern Harrier 4 4 341
Sharp-shinned Hawk 11 29 4377
Cooper's Hawk 2 5 116
Northern Goshawk 0 0 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 31 31 343
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 17529
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 361 365 2104
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 5
Golden Eagle 1 2 30
American Kestrel 3 3 550
Merlin 0 0 37
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 28
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 5
Unknown Buteo 0 0 56
Unknown Falcon 0 0 2
Unknown Eagle 0 0 1
Unknown Raptor 0 1 13
Total: 1275 1306 63040
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Dustin Brewer
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Patrick Mulawa, Raburn Howland,
Rosemary Brady
Visitors:
We had a nice group of visitors today, including at least ten people all at
once. One visitor was from Vermont, and saw his first Golden Eagle. For
those visitors still seeking their first sighting of this species, don't
despair. More are on the way!
Weather:
This morning, there was an interesting contrast in that cloud cover over
the lake was thick, but mostly clear elsewhere. The temperature was cooler
today, and more fall-like than it has been the last few days. Wind came
mostly from the north-northwest.
Raptor Observations:
The cooler weather and northerly winds helped to revive Buteo migration.
There were also nice streams of Turkey Vultures today, with most of these
birds counted between 11 and 12. We had a good look at an adult male
Northern Harrier, which is always a treat for us. The '4 o'clock Golden
Eagle' was about fifteen minutes early today.
Non-raptor Observations:
American Crows were the birds of the day. Kind of like picking a needle out
of a hay stack, we had to pick raptor 'droplets' out of a crow river.
Sometimes, there were thick streams of these birds stretching across the
entire sky! Over 6,000 were counted, though this is likely a big
underestimate, as many flew by when we were counting raptors. About 40 Blue
Jays flew overhead, as did a couple Great Egrets.
Predictions:
The winds are predicted to be favorable tomorrow, and there will likely be
some sunny conditions to create thermals. So, there could be good
opportunities to see migrating raptors.
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Report submitted by Detroit River Hawk Watch (greg_norw...@fws.gov)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.drhawkwatch.org
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