Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 28, 2021 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 715 1150 1150 Osprey 0 17 17 Bald Eagle 1 27 27 Northern Harrier 1 125 125 Sharp-shinned Hawk 92 2074 2074 Cooper's Hawk 0 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 931 20064 20064 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 5 42 42 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 25 519 519 Merlin 2 20 20 Peregrine Falcon 4 21 21 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 1776 24065 24065 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:30:00 Total observation time: 7.5 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Mark Hainen Visitors: We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations. One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them. Weather: Although not exactly as predicted, todayâs weather did generally follow the script. Instead of falling, the winds out the north increased for in the morning hours. The barometer did climb, albeit with a little temporary dip in the afternoon. Winds dropped in the afternoon and went slightly more to the east. Temperatures rose to just over seventy and the skies were mostly clear. The stage was set for a day of epic movement and that is what we had with over thirty-nine thousand birds being counted today. Raptor Observations: When I read the tea leaves last night there was a little more ambiguity in the prophecy than usual. (I attribute that to accidentally using decaf tea leaves which have less energy and accuracy than the high-test stuff.) A big number was indicated but the details were murky. I had anticipated the final rush of broad-wings today with huge numbers blackening the sky but it was not to be. Instead, it was another Canadian export with a blue hue. Not Labatts, but blue jays that flooded the airways. We started off with a fairly promising start to the day with broadwings being seen early but our flight seemed to dry up and we saw only low numbers the rest of the day. Nine hundred and thirty-one were counted. Itâs possible more were on the move to the south of us but with the northerly wind staying fairly fresh we could not see them. The turkey vultures seem more motivated by the day with seven hundred and fifteen floating by. Kettles are starting to be seen over Canada in their normal staging area. Five red-tails were counted, most of the juvenile persuasion. The sharp-shins seemed much scarcer today although I was pleasantly surprised to see the final end-of-day tally as ninety-two. The falcons seem to be more common in the last few days. Today we saw twenty-five kestrels, two merlin and four peregrines. One harrier and one bald eagle were also counted. Non-raptor Observations: The constant flow of dense flocks of blue jays in the morning hours was the highlight of the day. We totaled thirty-seven thousand, two hundred and fifty-one. The skies were blackened, but by the wrong species. Some of those birds had to take evasive action as the predatory falcons seemed to be hungry today. One of those aggressive birds, a peregrine, took a run at one bird in a small flight of American golden plovers that flew in front of us. It was a juvenile bird still learning its craft so the plover escaped, although I suspect its heart rate was slightly elevated. Our monarch butterfly run has perhaps seen its best days with only fourteen seen today. Predictions: Tomorrow will be a form of déjà vu all over again with a similar forecast to todayâs. Winds will mostly be from the NE to start, although at a lower strength than today. That should make it a little easier to see the migrants as they wonât be pushed away as much. However, sometimes a low wind will send them further aloft to seek stronger winds The question is whether there are that many migrants out there. We are a little late for broadwings and a little early for heavy movement of turkey vultures and other species. The barometer should continue to rise with a dip later in the day. Skies should be sunny and temps peak around seventy again. Once again, we will have fingers crossed and hope for the best. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess ([email protected]) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://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-2021 -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at [email protected]. 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