Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 19, 2021
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Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
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Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 7980 26424 30550
Osprey 2 5 24
Bald Eagle 4 28 62
Northern Harrier 18 123 318
Sharp-shinned Hawk 373 2864 5777
Cooper's Hawk 1 15 27
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 1 45 50
Broad-winged Hawk 0 15 22237
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 68 335 396
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Golden Eagle 2 2 3
American Kestrel 23 400 1049
Merlin 2 24 47
Peregrine Falcon 2 23 49
Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0
Unknown Buteo 0 0 1
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 0 0
Total: 8476 30303 60590
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Kevin Georg
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Erika Van Kirk, Mark Hainen,
Patrick Mulawa, Shourjya Majumder
Visitors:
We are still dealing with the residue of the Covid 19 situation. The
workers at the site will be in an enclosed area that is designed for four
people only. We still love to interact and share our love of hawk watching
with visitors. Feel free to ask questions and look over our shoulders to
help you follow the birds. Watch the weather for favorable forecasts as the
birds are predictable to some degree based on weather situations.
One other thing of note this year; the boat-launch bathroom building has
been shut down for the foreseeable future due to plumbing issues. There are
Porta-Johns in the parking lot should you require them.
Weather:
Itâs a little unusual to have the same winds for three consecutive days
but for the last couple of years we have massive high-pressure systems that
occupy the entire eastern half of the country. Things donât always turn
out as predicted, but the last three days have been productive for us on
winds that had a western component. Todayâs winds were a little more to
the south so we had to work harder to see the river of turkey vultures that
were leaving Canada for warmer climes. Once again, we were close to an
isobar line and our winds were variable, only slightly in direction, but up
and down in strength. We had a Sistine Chapel of a sky dome to work with.
Attractive mareâs tails provided just enough contrast to help us find
birds and cut the glare from the bright sun, an almost perfect viewing
experience. The temperatures rose to seventy plus making it a comfortable
watch today. The barometer was steady to begin but the frosty mareâs
tails clouds were telling us that rain was coming and the pressure was
falling a little at dayâs end.
Raptor Observations:
October is the month for turkey vultures to head south and today they
continued the trend of the last few days. It seemed that there was an
endless stream once the winds got up enough to provide lift for them. We
counted seven thousand, nine hundred and eighty today. The winds pushed
them a little to the north but they were still visible at certain gaps in
the tree line. The red-tailed hawks were moving in concert with the
vultures and sixty-eight were counted. One red-shouldered hawk was noted.
We counted four bald eagles and two ospreys today. The sharp-shinned hawks
were also on the move with three hundred and seventy-three fluttering by.
Only one Cooperâs hawk was tallied. Eighteen northern harriers wafted by
in their own unique fashion. We had a trifecta again in the falcon
department with two merlins, two peregrines and twenty-three American
kestrels. Last but not least, we had two golden eagles today. The final
bird was the last of the day, we spotted it about three zip codes away and
waited about thirty minutes for its arrival and confirmation. During all
that time, it flapped two âpseudo flapsâ and nothing else; a truly
magnificent display of flying ability.
Non-raptor Observations:
We noted the presence of Forsterâs terns early in the morning. Blue jays
are still on the move but not in large numbers. Red-winged blackbirds are
more common flying by in their bounding flight pattern. A massive
murmuration of starlings was seen over Ontario again. Itâs mesmerizing to
watch as an avian lava lamp morphs before your disbelieving eyes. It sounds
similar to fireworks show as people respond to the coordinated movements of
the huge flocks.
Predictions:
Tomorrowâs watch hours will be mostly sunny but towards the evening there
is a forty percent chance of rain. The winds should be mostly from our
least favorite direction, SW. It will be moderate to start but grow to
about ten mph. The barometer will start a sharp decline about the time the
watch commences and will bottom out on Thursday as the rain get serious.
Hard to say what we may see tomorrow in the vulture department as the winds
may push them north to far to see. They seem determined to move though, so
fingers crossed. Sharpies will probably fly right up to the bad weather but
the falling barometer may discourage movement of some of the birds.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess ([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
Count data submitted via Dunkadoo - Project info at:
https://dunkadoo.org/explore/detroit-river-international-wildlife-refuge/detroit-river-hawk-watch-fall-2021
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