Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 28, 2024
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 1 2983 65220
Osprey 0 0 18
Bald Eagle 1 75 213
Northern Harrier 2 28 348
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 100 3496
Cooper's Hawk 0 44 119
American Goshawk 0 3 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 2 163 336
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 6785
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 1
Red-tailed Hawk 2 1096 2027
Rough-legged Hawk 2 7 21
Golden Eagle 0 76 120
American Kestrel 0 1 410
Merlin 0 4 27
Peregrine Falcon 0 5 33
Unknown Accipiter 0 4 19
Unknown Buteo 0 19 50
Unknown Falcon 0 1 14
Unknown Eagle 0 4 7
Unknown Raptor 0 2 30
Total: 11 4615 79297
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 4 hours
Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess
Observers: Bill Peregord, Jo Patterson, Michelle Peregord,
Rosemary Brady
Visitors:
We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie MetroPark.
We are willing to spread the gospel with pamphlets and information cards,
along with tips on IDing the raptors, and photography tips for those behind
the cameras. Let us share our enthusiasm for this miracle of nature with
you.
Weather:
Happy Thanksgiving to all you USA residents, and belated wishes to our
Canadian contingent. Today was a truncated watch due to the nature of the
day. A day to examine your life and find the diamonds in the rough, giving
thanks for the positive things that you find. Of course, family connections
are renewed, most of us thankful for the fact that this only happens on
rare occasions during the course of the year. We had a window of
opportunity today as a low-pressure area had moved through during the early
morning hours, the imminent high-pressure area bringing a northern wind as
a vanguard of its approach. Not our favored northeast wind, which we have
seen little of this year, but with the rising barometer telling birds that
it was safe to travel again, it was hoped that we would see a little
traffic. It was a tale of two skies for the most part, mostly a gray
stratus blanket at first, but off to the west, blue skies seem to be trying
to make their way over to us. We did end up with windows in the loosely
knit cumulostratus clouds so we were thankful for a little sunshine today.
Winds were mostly northwest and growing in boldness during the watch. This
was a prelude to about a week of western winds of ten mph or more. We seem
to be seeing more of these stretches of week-long-same winds as the
high-pressure areas seem to be growing larger and taking more time to pass
disrupting migration. The barometer was rising, but only hundreds of an
inch during the short watch. Temperatures were rising, but as the north
wind takes over, the temps will fall with a colder week ahead in the
forecast.
Raptor Observations:
At least we had variety, if not numbers. Two northern harriers were noted,
one flying low over the water, as they are wont to do. Two seemed to be the
number of the day as we also had two early red-shoulders, two red-tails,
and two rough-legged hawks, one of each morph. A single sharp-shinned, bald
eagle, and one turkey vulture rounded out the count.
Non-raptor Observations:
A common loon was spotted out in the direction of the big lake. Plenty of
gulls were up in the sky, mostly ring-bills, with big herrings drawing our
attention from time to time. Bonaparteâs gulls made brief appearances in
small numbers from time to time. A red-bellied woodpecker undulated by.
Mute swans flew by in a very small line. Great egrets were seen in the
marshland on the way in but not in big numbers. Mallards, the default duck
in our small corner of the world, were present but not seen in big numbers.
Predictions:
Westerly winds, in the ten to fifteen mph range, will prove challenging
tomorrow, as the real-feel temps, as a direct result, will be in the lower
twenties. Actual temps will be at the freezing mark. Snow showers are in
the forecast for the morning hours, so as the Monty Python characters said
when confronted by the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, it may be time to
âRun away!â
========================================================================
Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (ajye...@gmail.com)
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.
