DRHW- Lake Erie Metropark Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 504 110658 112029 Osprey 0 10 62 Bald Eagle 0 54 192 Northern Harrier 1 123 385 Sharp-shinned Hawk 5 1402 6357 Cooper's Hawk 3 459 696 Northern Goshawk 1 5 7 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 262 267 Broad-winged Hawk 0 209 79572 Red-tailed Hawk 6 924 1172 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 12 12 American Kestrel 0 98 671 Merlin 3 20 44 Peregrine Falcon 0 15 35 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 17 Prairie Falcon 0 1 3 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 5 Total: 523 114252 201526 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:15:00 Total observation time: 5.25 hours Official Counter: Rob Payne Observers: Raburn Howland, Rodney Laura Visitors: Nobody beyond the every-days and the regularly scheduled. Good company, exciting hawk watching, and doughnuts, seems everybody else missed out. Weather: Our horrible wind conditions continued to make for long cold days. Winds from the west were averaging out at about 9mph, but a few gusts touched the upper 20s. Temperatures topped off at 52f, but the wind chill must have dropped it to the upper 30s. Turns out scattered showers is so named for the immediate reaction of hawk watchers when their cameras start getting wet. Most were short, but a larger afternoon downpour put an end to the day. Raptor Observations: Despite the bad weather a few hardy birds gave it a go. Early in the day I had seen a distant kettle of Turkey Vultures on my way in to the Metro Park. It's only a guess, but I believe those to be part of yesterday's group from Canada, who could not make it across in the wind. At about 10:30am (EDST) our first couple of streams came up over the islands to our north east, and continued to stream slowly in the high winds for the remainder of the count period. We counted a total of 504, and it's a tough call to say they're not yesterday's birds, but I believe those left earlier in the day. Other raptors were few, but quality over quantity was the theme today. We had all 3 Accipiters, the single juvenile Northern Goshawk came through at about 1:30pm. A total of 3 Merlins for the day is always fantastic. A total of 523 raptors were counted of 7 species. Non-raptor Observations: Due to the winds switching from south west to west last night, our little channel of the Detroit River had receded by about 3ft. Mudflats and landlocked minnows attracted 76 Great Egrets, about 100 Ring-billed Gulls with a few Herring, and for a short time at least 250 Dunlin. A Red-headed Woodpecker was seen at the closest trail to the count site. Our first American Tree-sparrow of the season was seen today near the end of the same trail. A pair of Field Sparrows was noted in the same mixed flock. Predictions: Tomorrow should be sunny, but these winds will continue their recent pattern. They will slow down a little, and migration should pick up by quite a bit. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Greg Norwood ([email protected]) SMRR- Lake Erie Metropark information may be found at: http://www.drhawkwatch.org _______________________________________________ ONTBIRDS is presented by the Ontario Field Ornithologists - the provincial birding organization. Send bird reports to ONTBIRDS mailing list [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS visit http://www.ofo.ca/
