DRHW- Lake Erie Metropark Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 15, 2010 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 6 2828 122323 Osprey 0 0 63 Bald Eagle 3 13 211 Northern Harrier 0 43 449 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 47 6502 Cooper's Hawk 3 76 818 Northern Goshawk 0 7 15 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 208 485 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 79572 Red-tailed Hawk 6 1789 3118 Rough-legged Hawk 1 27 27 Golden Eagle 0 39 57 American Kestrel 0 2 675 Merlin 0 4 52 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 40 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 17 Prairie Falcon 0 0 3 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 5 Total: 20 5087 214433 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 10:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Rob Payne Observers: Patrick Mulawa, Paul Cypher, Rodney Laura Weather: Today the weather did go as planned, but the wind was slightly stronger than expected. Winds continued from the south west at an average of 5mph with gusts into the teens. Cloud cover was high altitude and thin, but enough to hide the sun at times. Temperatures were much warmer than yesterday topping off at 54f. Raptor Observations: Good but not as good as expected, today did not turn into the big day I was hoping for. Best bird was a single dark morph Rough-legged Hawk who took his dear sweet time, and gave us great looks. A total of 20 raptors were seen of 6 species. Non-raptor Observations: A great day for gulls as would turn out, though hopes of Saturday's Little Gull was good motivation to look. Our efforts were paid off early when a pair of Franklin's Gulls came in and hung out by themselves for a few minuets before leaving south. About an hour later another 3 Franklin's Gulls came in from the east with a single Bonaparte's. They were high up and quite distant, and they also moved south. It's hard to tell if the first 2 were separate from the second 3, we will label Franklin's Gull as 3-5. In the mid afternoon a group of Canada Geese came through with an odd darker individual with them. Obviously a lot darker than the rest, the coloration was similar to a Dusky Canada Goose of the Pacific Northwest, if not darker. All other patterns were right where they should be including the white undertail coverts. More likely a melanistic Canada Goose than a Dusky, but still pretty cool. Predictions: Tomorrow still shows the early rain we were expecting, due time 3pm. The rain will blow in from the south, and will stick around for a while. Odds are tomorrow will be an early shutout, hopefully the early window will show some raptors. ======================================================================== 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/
