Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 02, 2024
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 543 1252 62826
Osprey 0 0 18
Bald Eagle 13 20 158
Northern Harrier 3 4 323
Sharp-shinned Hawk 15 34 3425
Cooper's Hawk 4 6 81
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 37 41 207
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 6785
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Red-tailed Hawk 153 216 1145
Rough-legged Hawk 2 3 17
Golden Eagle 14 16 60
American Kestrel 0 0 402
Merlin 0 0 23
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 28
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 15
Unknown Buteo 0 1 32
Unknown Falcon 0 0 13
Unknown Eagle 0 0 3
Unknown Raptor 0 1 29
Total: 784 1594 75591
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Michael Patrikeev
Observers: Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Jo Patterson,
Michelle Peregord
Visitors:
We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metropark.
We have brochures and educational information we are happy to share. Let us
share our enthusiasm for migration and raptors with you! While we welcome
your questions and company, please know that our professional counter,
apprentices, and volunteers must communicate with each other frequently to
successfully conduct the count, and they also must maintain an unobstructed
view of the horizon.
Weather:
Light, but cold northerly winds became southerly around 1 PM. Sunny, but
rather cold. Temperature rose from +3C (37F) in the morning to +11C (52F)
in the afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Today was definitely a Golden Eagle Day! Hard work by Don, Bill, Michelle
and Jo yielded 14 of these much-sought raptors! Although our overall totals
(784) were not that impressive, and Turkey Vultures were still in a lead,
we appreciated seeing greater numbers of other species. A dozen or so
Red-tails, it seems, were in the air at any given time. This species (153
sighted) made a good attempt to catch up with the leaders. We also counted
good numbers of Red-shouldered Hawks (37) and Bald Eagles (13, mainly
immature birds). Two Rough-legged Hawks were also sighted; one (dark morph)
flew directly overhead, and was photographed by Bill.
Non-raptor Observations:
A very impressive flight of American Crows! They crowed the skies,
stretching from from horizon to horizon, outnumbering raptors ten to one.
By combined efforts of Bill and Michelle, we logged 10,547 crows! The crows
were counted by fives, and the last digit of the total is an artifact of
the first hour when only two crows were sighted. In addition, we were
treated to a sighting of five Trumpeter Swans! Calls of this impressive
species were new to some of us! Another treat of the day were Dunlin. A
flock of 40-45 was seen over the river in early afternoon,
Predictions:
We look forward to almost perfect flight conditions tomorrow. It will be
cold, but sunny, with strong easterly winds, i.e., nearly perfect
conditions for migrating raptors. We may great numbers (perhaps in low
thousands).
========================================================================
Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (erika_vank...@fws.gov)
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
--
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:
birdnews@ontbirds.ca.
If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email
at birdn...@ofo.ca. Please review posting rules and guidelines at
http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines
To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page
at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
