Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 25, 2022
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 1 1009 65674
Osprey 0 0 16
Bald Eagle 1 13 79
Northern Harrier 1 16 391
Sharp-shinned Hawk 4 43 5880
Cooper's Hawk 1 19 86
Northern Goshawk 0 1 2
Red-shouldered Hawk 4 135 468
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 67350
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 53 1252 4261
Rough-legged Hawk 2 4 4
Golden Eagle 4 22 39
American Kestrel 0 0 981
Merlin 0 9 77
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: 71 2525 145370
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Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 6.5 hours
Official Counter: Kevin Georg
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Frank Kitakis,
Michelle Peregord, Rosemary Brady, 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:
We continued to give thanks today for a NW wind that delivered some tasty
goodies. Although its relentless power in the ten to fifteen mph range was
causing some âone step forward and two steps backâ flight paths at
times, most of the birds fought their way into it giving us sufficient ID
opportunities. The clear blue skies, after a brief early morning passage of
dark-bottomed, tightly clustered cumulus clouds, permitted good looks and
the atmosphere was mostly absent of the heat shimmy that sometimes makes
things more difficult. The barometer was fairly stable with small
variations in the hundredthâs column. Temperatures peaked at just over
the fifty-degree mark making for a comfortable day, if appropriately
attired.
Raptor Observations:
Usually, winds of this strength and from this direction tend to push birds
out over the lake and indeed, all the birds we saw were affected by the
wind. We had numerous birds that were headed directly for our site, giving
hope to the photographers, only to see them pushed to the south, crossing
at a completely different location than first indicated. Red-tailed hawks
led the way with 53 of their number tallied. The next highest count was 4,
which was shared by three different species, Sharp-shinned hawks,
red-shouldered hawks and last, but certainly not least, golden eagles. Even
these powerful eagles were having trouble making headway in the opposing
wind. We had a pair of rough-legged hawks, one light and one dark morph,
traveling together. Four other species came with a single bird apiece,
northern harriers, bald eagles, turkey vultures and Cooperâs hawks.
Non-raptor Observations:
Itâs been a while since I mentioned pelicans but they were back again
about fifty strong. Four sandhill cranes flew by, working hard into an
opposing wind. The Bonaparteâs gulls are still present in what seems to
be increasing numbers, approaching a figure on the north side of one
hundred. The lone little gull continues to mingle with the Boneyâs,
although not as frequently active as some visitors might like. Many
migrating strings of ducks were seen in the eastern sky. In our cove,
occasional sightings of bufflehead females and pairs of hooded mergansers
occurred.
Predictions:
Tomorrow will resemble today, but the winds will have shifted to the SW and
blow in the nine to twelve mph range. Skies will be mostly clear during the
watch hours, or at least that is the prediction, with clouds gathering
later in the day and delivering rain on Sunday. The barometer will start to
tail off tomorrow but most of the drop will occur after the watch and early
Sunday morning with a predicted 29.3â bottom. Usually, this kind of low
would indicate strong winds but this doesnât seem to be the case this
time. Hopefully, we can simply turn our gaze from the south today to the
north tomorrow and still see birds taking the opportunity to escape before
the rain arrives.
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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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