Date: 10/21/24 5:09 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (21 Oct 2024) 149 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 21, 2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Michael Patrikeev
Observers: Ben Sehl
Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site by the boat launch in Lake Erie Metro Park. We have brochures and educational information we are happy to share. Let us share our enthusiasm for migration and raptors with you! While we welcome your questions and company, please know that our professional counter, apprentices, and volunteers must communicate with each other frequently to successfully conduct the count, and they also must maintain an unobstructed view of the horizon.
Weather: Another beautiful day! Temperature at a comfortable +22 C (72F). Light southerly winds. Bright and sunny! Very hazy over the tip of Canada in the afternoon; if there were birds flying over there, we could not see them.
Raptor Observations: However, nice weather and intensive hawk flight seem to be polar opposite at this location. We had another uneventful day with a total of 149 raptors recorded. Predictably, 127 of those were Turkey Vultures. We also had fourteen sharp-shins and and five Red-tailed Hawk.
Two most notable episodes were related to resident raptors. A Cooper's Hawk shadowing a murmuration of starlings in mid-air, and an adult Bald Eagle carrying a sizable fish up the channel.
Non-raptor Observations: Several flocks of American Crows, numbering around 220.
Several butterflies, including a Painted Lady, Common Buckeye, whites, and yellows, but no Monarchs.
Predictions: Southerly winds and balmy summer temperatures are expected tomorrow, for third day in a row. We predict trivial raptor migration will be insignificant, in low hundreds at best. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (<erika_vankirk...>) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
