Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 18, 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 8 1049 72564 Osprey 0 0 31 Bald Eagle 1 13 68 Northern Harrier 1 33 417 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 117 5038 Cooper's Hawk 0 31 101 Northern Goshawk 0 0 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 6 175 786 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 16407 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 49 1445 4063 Rough-legged Hawk 2 13 21 Golden Eagle 1 36 54 American Kestrel 0 2 641 Merlin 0 8 61 Peregrine Falcon 0 8 102 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 2 Unknown Falcon 0 0 1 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 69 2930 100359 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Kevin Georg Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood Visitors: While Lake Erie Metropark is currently open to the public, for the safety of our counter and volunteers we encourage visitors to follow along with the count virtually on HawkCount.org, or our Detroit River Hawk Watch Facebook page. There will be daily updates and photographs.If you do decide to join us in person, please help the counter and volunteers to follow their mandated safety protocols by refraining from approaching them. Please follow the recommended Covid 19 procedures by wearing a mask and maintaining a safe social distance. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation. Stay safe! Weather: A rather benign day at the site for the watchers after yesterdayâs fury as we were safely sheltered from the winds today and the sun was shining. The center of a high was close by and accordingly the barometric pressure was high at 30.6â to begin the day. The winds rotated around the center, starting from the W and ending S, growing in strength and eventually blowing with enough vigor to send the birds to the north and out of our sight. The pressure did drop about a tenth from its starting high which may have been the highest we have seen this season. The winds started at five mph but grew to double digits, mostly unfelt by us but definitely affecting the flight. Raptor Observations: The morning hours provided some sporadic movement giving us hope, but the changing winds were not kind to us in the end. We ended with eight turkey vultures. One sub-adult bald eagle joined the fray. Only one harrier was seen today. Equaling that number was one sharp-shinned hawk. In the morning hours we saw some buteos in numbers making us think that they were on the move but at dayâs end we could only manage six red-shoulders and sixty one red-tails. Two rough-legged hawks were observed, one of each morph and one adult golden eagle made its way through in the morning hours. Non-raptor Observations: We did see a flight of dunlins fly low over the water today, the first shorebirds we have seen for some time. Ducks were migrating today well off in the distance. The gulls were seen in large kettles today off to the north as were most of the migrants. Bonaparteâs were present but not in large numbers and a small murder of crows did pass though. Predictions: Tomorrow will bring a falling barometer, increasing cloud cover, and an ever increasing wind from the SW which will bring temps approaching the high fifties. Hard to see that a wind from the SW approaching nearly twenty mph will be productive for our site even with fifty percent cloud cover to make spotting and tracking raptors easier. At least we can drop a couple of layers from our Michelin Man appearance for a couple of days as warm temps return on the back of a strong southern wind. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Kevin Georg ([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 -- Ontbirds and Birdnews are moderated email Listservs provided by the Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO) as a service to all birders in Ontario. Birdnews is reserved for announcements, location summaries, first of year reports, etc. To post a message on Birdnews, send an email to: [email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns, contact the Birdnews Moderators by email at [email protected]. Please review posting rules and guidelines at http://ofo.ca/site/content/listserv-guidelines To edit your membership settings visit the Birdnews setup page at: http://ontbirds.ca/mailman/listinfo/birdnews_ontbirds.ca. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all Ontario birders should be taking extra precautions and following local, provincial, and federal regulations regarding physical distancing and non-essential travel. To find out more about OFO, please visit our website at ofo.ca or Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OntarioFieldOrnithologists.
