Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2022
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 195 880 65545
Osprey 0 0 16
Bald Eagle 1 3 68
Northern Harrier 0 7 382
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 19 5856
Cooper's Hawk 2 6 73
Northern Goshawk 0 0 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 8 73 406
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 74 468 3477
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 1 5 22
American Kestrel 0 0 981
Merlin 0 6 74
Peregrine Falcon 0 2 62
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: 281 1469 144313
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Jessica Fletcher
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood,
Rosemary Brady
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:
Winds matter. The wind was doing its inconsistent thing again today. Rising
and falling, changing directions and changing flight lines. The first two
hours got off to a good start with NE winds at about five mph but as the
wind went more easterly, the strength grew and our count shrank. In the
final hours with NE again, we started to see some traffic but too little,
too late. It seemed that the birds had shifted to flying very high, well
out over the lake, cutting the corner and nearly impossible to see and
count. Temperatures did break the fifty-degree mark by a little. Except for
some distant clouds low on the far perimeter of our vision, there was no
cover to speak of. The barometer did climb to the 30.7â range before
starting a very slight decline that should continue for the next three
days.
Raptor Observations:
Turkey vultures are not quite ready to give up yet. Most of ours came early
in the morning hours, totaling 195 and regaining the gold medal. Red-tailed
hawks got the silver with 74 of them making the clicker. Red-shouldered
hawks got the bronze with 8 birds. Cooperâs hawks finished off the podium
with a pair of birds. The eagles each had one representative in the bald
and golden class.
Non-raptor Observations:
Today we learned how not to shrink-wrap a boat for winter storage. The
process is done using a sheet of plastic that is heated with a torch
causing it to shrink. After the job was apparently done, flames suddenly
erupted and within minutes the boat was engulfed in fire, a thick black
plume of smoke heading skyward. It was a total loss, including the outboard
motor, before the fire department arrived. This was in front of the house
we refer to as âBad Vinylâ but we may have to come up with a new name
now. A good number of crows made their way by today, coming in very large
flocks at times. Occasionally, they seem to lose their sense of direction
and almost look like a kettle of vultures as they swirl around seeking a
new leader. There seemed to be a lot of local bald eagles up enjoying the
winds today with several chase scenes taking place. The great egrets may
have relocated as they seemed notable by their absence this morning in the
marsh.
Predictions:
The temperature will rise about ten-degrees tomorrow. Uh oh, I think that
means southern winds again. The barometer will continue to slide down,
dropping a full inch from its high today by Friday afternoon. There should
be a little more cloud cover tomorrow but the sun will make its presence
known. The winds from the south will be between five and ten mph, gradually
increasing more on Thursday which is not good news. Hopefully the milder
winds in the morning will allow some birds to come by but we have not had
much luck on falling barometers with southern winds lately.
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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-2022
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