Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 27, 2019
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 53 46309 46800
Osprey 0 5 35
Bald Eagle 0 26 77
Northern Harrier 0 85 259
Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 1668 3746
Cooper's Hawk 0 68 79
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 182 182
Broad-winged Hawk 0 538 64336
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 6 692 807
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 3 3
American Kestrel 0 124 697
Merlin 1 14 30
Peregrine Falcon 0 31 46
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 1
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 65 49746 117099
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Kevin Georg
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Jerry Jourdan, Mark Hainen,
Raburn Howland, Rosemary Brady
Visitors:
We had hawk watching royalty at the site today with Bob Pettit of Holiday
Beach Migration Observatory and Jim and Kathy Bricker of Mackinac Straits
Hawk Watch. We had other visitors but unfortunately we had little to show
them as it was just one of those days where the winds and other conditions
conspired against us.
Weather:
The backside of the remains of Tropical Storm Olga proved to be less
fruitful than the leading edge yesterday. Leaving plenty of overnight rain,
the low departed with strong SW winds pushing scudding grey clouds to the
NE. The scudding continued until the final hour when fenestration of the
cloud cover finally allowed blue to show through. The barometer rose three
tenths as high pressure began to fill in.
Raptor Observations:
Turkey vultures outnumbered the other birds, but at 53 total were not
impressive. Red-tails were next with 6 birds and sharp-shins came in with 5
birds. 1 merlin represented for the falcons. When you spread those birds
over 7 hours you can see we had to work pretty hard for them.
Non-raptor Observations:
A loon was spotted out on the lake and later flying over the tree line in a
loony erratic manner. An adult Great black-backed gull was seen by Celeron
Island. To close the day, eagle-eyed Don Sherwood spotted a common night
hawk by the DTE stacks. This seems a little late for this bird but the late
arriving sun highlighted its white wing bars perfectly.
Predictions:
Tomorrow will be a better looking day on the surface. The barometer will be
in the go zone and sunny skies will greet us. The winds will still be from
the southerly quarter however, but in a much less forceful manner. It will
be interesting to see if that wind is enough to discourage the birds from
moving. Hopefully not.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (ajye...@gmail.com)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
More site information at hawkcount.org:
http://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-2019
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