Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 15, 2025
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 37 37 37
Osprey 6 11 11
Bald Eagle 13 34 34
Northern Harrier 21 116 116
Sharp-shinned Hawk 242 745 745
Cooper's Hawk 1 7 7
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 23901 37909 37909
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 12 70 70
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 78 298 298
Merlin 3 19 19
Peregrine Falcon 0 14 14
Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 1 1
Unknown Falcon 0 1 1
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 1 1
Total: 24314 39263 39263
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Johannes Postma,
Mark Hainen
Visitors:
We welcome visitors to our site as we are eager to share the joys of hawk
watching with one and all. Although there may be times in which we are all
very busy and need alone-time to concentrate, those are the times that are
most enjoyable for visitors as the skies are filled with migrating raptors.
Weather:
In my closing remarks yesterday, I told the broadwings to âBring it
on.â This inspired them to unleash a seemingly endless conveyor belt of
birds almost directly over our heads today. There were multiple âOMGsâ
and at least one âJeez Oâ Peteâ heard, all directed at the relentless
onslaught of avian traffic. Winds were favorable to begin with, coming from
the north, but working their way around the compass, keeping the wind
turbines on their toes, ending up in the southeast again. Normally, this
wind pushes the birds further to the north, and indeed, there were some
spotted, as mere specks, off in that direction in the final minutes. But
for the most part, the direction and strength of the wind was perfectly
balanced for them to quarter on it. and very little kettling was seen as
they were on their way to South America simply by gliding along by holding
their wings out. It was a warm day as the temperature reached the high
seventies. Cloud conditions were actually helpful to us today as they built
from very high cirrus to grey-bottomed cumulus, which dissipated in the
last hour. The heavier cloud cover made it much easier for us to find the
trail of ant-sized shadows high aloft. Although no two people describe a
cloud in the same way, they did provide us with a better backdrop than that
of a bright cerulean blue.
Raptor Observations:
We put in an extra hour today but were forced to retire when all our
clickers fell victim to overuse. The reason being that we had twenty-three
thousand, nine hundred and one broadwings today. Today was one of those
days that âgentlemen in England now a-bed shall think themselves accursed
they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks that
fought with us upon Saint Crispinâs day.â It was indeed a glorious
sight and rare in the fact that it was relatively easily seen, being
directly overhead. These are birds that you have to chase all over the sky,
small hawks that do not present a significant side profile, resembling
horizontal raindrops at times. I did say relatively easy, as it required a
village of helpful people to spot the birds and earn the visual reward for
all of us. A shout out to them, and special thanks to our counter Jo, who
put in a weekâs worth of work today. Following the broadwings, in fairly
decent numbers, were the shins, with two hundred and forty-two
representatives, most on the same flight line as the broadwings. Kestrels
took the lower step on the podium with seventy-eight bird speeding through.
Twenty-one harriers came by, dribbling two basketballs at once, our analogy
used to ID them. Thirteen bald eagles, many in the streams with the
broadwings, made the tally. Twelve red-tailed hawks came along for the
ride. We started counting turkey vultures today and thirty-seven had
captured the moving-day mood. Six ospreys were noted, about half were up in
the stream of broadwings. Three merlin were clickered. A single Cooperâs
hawk, still confused about not being an accipiter anymore, made the grade.
Non-raptor Observations:
Today was a day in which everybody was looking nearly straight up, so the
Queen Mary may have steamed by and we might have missed it. We had
relatively little flack to interfere with our looking for broadwings, some
gull traffic, and the swallows were present but not an issue. The monarchs
were having a day with five hundred and seventy counted, and there may have
been more. No pelicans were seen today.
Predictions:
Well, if we canât repeat todayâs performance, it wonât be the fault
of the predicted winds. Coming mostly from our favored northeast direction,
of a moderate strength for most of the watch hours, and ending easterly; if
the birds are there and moving, we should see them. It seems almost too
much to ask for, but we are needy and greedy by nature. Another hot day
with mostly sunny skies. Barometer staying high during the day. A near
carbon copy of today, but the predicted winds are, in theory, even better.
Letâs hope the pipeline is still full.
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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
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