DRHW- Lake Erie Metropark
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 19, 2010
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 72 252 252
Osprey 6 47 47
Bald Eagle 12 110 110
Northern Harrier 64 168 168
Sharp-shinned Hawk 315 4012 4012
Cooper's Hawk 18 108 108
Northern Goshawk 0 1 1
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 40114 65142 65142
Red-tailed Hawk 22 202 202
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 0 0 0
American Kestrel 114 389 389
Merlin 1 17 17
Peregrine Falcon 1 12 12
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 0
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 16 16
Prairie Falcon 0 1 1
Swainson's Hawk 1 3 3
Total: 40740 70480 70480
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Observation start time: 07:00:00
Observation end time: 17:00:00
Total observation time: 10 hours
Official Counter: Rob Payne
Observers: Greg Norwood, Jeff Schultz, Josh Haas, Raburn Howland,
Rodney Laura
Visitors:
Many Many hawk watchers out and about today due to the annual Hawk Fest. At
one point nearly 200 people where tallied just from the Count Site.
Weather:
Had a nice cloudy backdrop for the majority of today. Winds continued from
east south east at an average of 10mph, with gusts up to 15mph.
Temperatures where moderate but warm enough for some large thermals.
Raptor Observations:
One of the best days of the season fell on the last day of our annual Hawk
Fest. You can't beat that. The moderate winds from the south east was
exactly what we needed to push the birds right over our heads. At three we
had an amazing hour for Northern Harriers with 35 tallied. American Kestrel
numbers peaked today at 114, with 2 hours containing more than 40
individuals. However the real show stealer was the Broad-winged Hawks, go
figure. At 2 we had nearly 9 thousand, but by 3 we added 20 thousand more.
We also had one light morph Swainson's Hawks, blending in with a
Broad-winged kettle. The day ended with 40,740 migrating raptors of 12
species.
Non-raptor Observations:
Other birds on the move included a fly by Dicksissel which is very rare
inside the park. An early Golden-crowned Kinglet was found on the boardwalk
trail between the Count Site and the Marshlands Museum. The real rarity was
the possible continuance of the definite White-winged Dove. The dove flew
right in front of the count site at eye level, if you where not looking in
a scope, you saw it. It was a life bird for a few of our veteran spotters.
However the quickness of the bird left us without an opportunity for a
picture.
Predictions:
Tomorrow the good weather should continue to help get some good numbers. It
might be our last big push though. There mixed up weather in the following
week, it's hard to say exactly how it will turn out.
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Report submitted by Greg Norwood ([email protected])
SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at:
http://www.drhawkwatch.org
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