Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 16, 2022
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 0 32 32
Osprey 1 6 6
Bald Eagle 2 19 19
Northern Harrier 22 65 65
Sharp-shinned Hawk 231 1041 1041
Cooper's Hawk 0 6 6
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 2 26703 26703
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 0 89 89
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 20 274 274
Merlin 1 11 11
Peregrine Falcon 0 8 8
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
Total: 279 28254 28254
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Kevin Georg
Observers: Bill Peregord, Frank Kitakis, Mark Hainen, Patrick Mulawa,
Sarah deGuise
Visitors:
We are located by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark in a fenced off
area at the Hawk Watch site. This does not mean that we do not welcome
interaction with any and all visitors. We enjoy talking about what we do
and sharing our knowledge with beginners and experts alike. Please feel
free to come up and talk to us. We usually have our backs turned to the
parking lot as we scan the skies in front of us. This should not be
interpreted as a sign of reluctance to engage: this is how we do our job.
We have friendly people that do not bite and the welcome mat is always out.
Weather:
Hello again everyone, guest speaker and apprentice Sarah here. The weather
was promising as we started off the day with a light West wind, but weather
did like weather does and the winds changed to a dreaded constant South.
Whispy cirrus and pillowing cumulus battled the haze for ownership over
the sky. The fight was settled at a truce as the haze claimed the East,
limiting our visibility to 5km, and the clouds claimed the West giving us
an ideal 10km visibility.
Raptor Observations:
We all started off the morning at the edge of our seats, and not because of
the yellow jackets this time, but in anticipation, as we hoped the
Broad-wing numbers would carry over into today. Unfortunately, to our
dismay, they never came. Two of them teased us in the early morning like a
fisherman getting a bite, giving us a little hope, but hope was all it was.
As Andrew often says âthe birds by associationâ aka the Northern
Harrier, made themselves known again today by beating out yesterdayâs
record total. We counted 22 Harriers while they mostly traveled in their
close knit pairs. And of course, our favorite little sharpies continued to
move today sometimes even in groups, throuples, and couples like they were
headed for a Friday night out on the town.
Non-raptor Observations:
The blue jays are still making their way down South. They started off the
morning with high numbers and huge groups, but as the afternoon rolls
around so does the midday lull. They ended the day with an impressing
number of 18,300 total. The gulls and terns conducted business as usual and
my favorite Lake Erie local, the Pied-billed grebe went about his day
diving and fishing throughout the river.
Predictions:
Tomorrows forcast is looking a little warmer with a high of 27C with winds
from the SSW at a possible high of 16km/h. Hopefully we get good weather
and good winds for a good hawk push for the weekends festivities at
HawkFest.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Jessie Fletcher ([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-2022
--
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]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at
http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines
During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra
precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding
physical distancing and non-essential travel.
To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page
at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
