Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1912 62862 67084 Osprey 0 11 71 Bald Eagle 4 127 265 Northern Harrier 1 68 191 Sharp-shinned Hawk 7 1278 3136 Cooper's Hawk 2 195 388 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 40 212 214 Broad-winged Hawk 0 2 49627 Swainson's Hawk 1 2 5 Red-tailed Hawk 279 1349 1648 Rough-legged Hawk 2 12 12 Golden Eagle 2 9 9 American Kestrel 0 183 680 Merlin 0 24 48 Peregrine Falcon 0 33 43 Unknown Accipiter 0 13 45 Unknown Buteo 1 9 14 Unknown Falcon 0 3 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 11 23 Total: 2251 66403 123506 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 16:45:00 Total observation time: 8.75 hours Official Counter: Jonathan Stein Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Patrick Mulawa Visitors: 5 Weather: Cool again today, the sky clouded up as the day progressed. The wind was light and out of the west early, strengthening and shifting more northeast in the afternoon. Raptor Observations: I'm running out of adjectives to describe the quality of the flight so let's just keep it simple and say today was above average. Aw, who am I kidding? That's way too boring. Today was stupendous! There, that's better. But stupendous why? Well, stupendous because we saw two more Golden Eagles, two more Rough-legged Hawks, had an entertaining late day buteo flight and added our fifth Swainson's Hawk of the season, a first year bird that just so happened to wander past right overhead. Non-raptor Observations: >From 1000 until 300, a seemingly inexhaustible river of crows darkened the sky by the hundreds of thousands. The most interesting of those hundreds of thousands, though, was a single crow showing white patches in the wings, a phenomenon that was new to me and one that Sibley calls "rare but regular." In addition to the crows, at the end of the day, several large groups of Rusty Blackbirds (600+) passed overhead. Earlier, upon arrival, there were many Rusty Blackbirds chattering noisily in the nearby trees. So all in all: a crow-and-blackbird-filled day. Other birds of note: Horned Lark (4), Blue Jay (60+), Common Grackle (20+), Cedar Waxwing (25+). Predictions: Partly cloudy, highs in the low 50s and moderate northeast wind. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Jonathan Stein ([email protected]) Detroit River Hawk Watch 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 [email protected] For information about ONTBIRDS including how to unsubscribe visit http://www.ofo.ca/site/page/view/information.ontbirdssetup
