DRHW- Lake Erie Metropark
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 29, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 1355 112013 113384
Osprey 0 10 62
Bald Eagle 4 58 196
Northern Harrier 12 135 397
Sharp-shinned Hawk 37 1439 6394
Cooper's Hawk 20 479 716
Northern Goshawk 1 6 8
Red-shouldered Hawk 6 268 273
Broad-winged Hawk 0 209 79572
Red-tailed Hawk 64 988 1236
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 3 15 15
American Kestrel 0 98 671
Merlin 0 20 44
Peregrine Falcon 0 15 35
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 17
Prairie Falcon 0 1 3
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 5
Total: 1502 115754 203028
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Rob Payne
Observers: Don Sherwood, Jim Maki, John Elliott, Patrick Mulawa,
Rodney Laura
Visitors:
A few, and for a nice change every visitor got to see a few of the raptors.
Many thanks to my excellent and dedicated spotters, I had 4 of 7 daily
spotters at one time today.
Weather:
Today the weather finally turned to our benefit. We had sunny skies with a
light breeze out of the west, topping out to only 12mph gusts. The high
temp reached 53f.
Raptor Observations:
Today proved that a lot of migrant raptors had been held up by our recent
weather troubles. Quite a few species whose migration should be closing
made a nice push, which made for an exciting day. We had all three
Accipiters, 37 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 20 Cooper's Hakws, and a single
juvenile Northern Goshawk. The Goshawk came through at about 1:30pm(EDST).
Both Eagle species came through well, 4 Bald Eagles, and 3 Golden Eagles.
The Goldies came in at 10:30am and a pair at 4:15pm, neither sighting was a
close view. 12 Northern Harriers was good, only 1 was a male.
Turkey Vultures made yet another high point day with 1,355. After 11:00am,
they came through all day, with most groups in the hundreds. This was also
the first day this week I have seen a kettle of Turkey Vultures, instead of
just a stream.
A total of 1,502 raptors were counted of 9 species.
Non-raptor Observations:
The sudden weather change turned into one of the best days of birding you
could ask for. A lot of FOS (first of season) birds were seen today. 3
Canvasbacks were noted in a large group of waterfowl. At least 2 dozen
Bonaparte's Gulls (FOS) came through in the early morning. A flock of 2
dozen Tundra Swans (FOS) was seen, and heard, overhead around noon. The
best bird of the day, and definitely a FOS, 4 Cave Swallows were noted
tumbling with each other.
American Crow numbers reached their highest of the season. At times their
numbers covered 200 degrees of our horizon, with individual waves numbering
in the thousands. A conservative guess would place their numbers at about
15,000+. In looking for raptors most crows get ignored.
On a final note the local trail produced a 7 species of sparrows, with
Song, Swamp, Lincoln's, Field, American Tree, White-crowned, and
White-throated.
Predictions:
Tomorrow's weather will be great just like today. Perhaps a bit more wind,
but warmer temps to combat that. The following four days should remain
similar.
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Report submitted by Greg Norwood ([email protected])
SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at:
http://www.drhawkwatch.org
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