Date: 9/19/25 3:57 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (19 Sep 2025) 2991 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 19, 2025
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Jerry Jourdan,
Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord, Rosemary Brady
Visitors:
We welcome visitors to our site as we are eager to share the joys of hawk
watching with one and all. Although there may be times in which we are all
very busy and need alone-time to concentrate, those are the times that are
most enjoyable for visitors as the skies are filled with migrating raptors.
Weather:
Our normally mild-mannered counter, Jo, seemed to have developed a harder
edge today. It wasn’t till we realized that it was International Talk
Like a Pirate Day that we understood her new persona. She stayed in
character all day long. making us work an hour’s overtime before
releasing us. We were chasing flight lines all over the sky, as the
normally friendly northeast winds frequently changed in strength, and
finally in direction, to a more easterly direction during the afternoon
hours. Clouds were late to form, but presented an attractive late afternoon
sky with a mix of cirrus, and cirrocumulus (mashed potato), clouds at the
end of the day. For most of the day we were dealing with a bright clear
blue sky, lovely to look at, except when trying to track broadwings. The
barometer was not rock steady but only had a range of a tenth of an inch,
staying in the high-pressure zone. Temperatures were eighty degrees plus,
but the winds kept them in check for the worker bees. Unlike yesterday,
when the winds never blew in the predicted direction, today they got it
right for the most part.
Raptor Observations:
We had a relatively good day. Broadwings took the gold, but in lesser
numbers than we have seen this year. Two thousand, four hundred and
twenty-six were counted. Most of them in the last two hours of the watch.
This is a bird that arrives fashionably late, and is responsible for most
of the OT that we work. Sharp-shins are having their moment with two
hundred and ninety-nine flying by today, some as high aloft as to look like
sparrows. The kestrels finally upped their game with two hundred of them
showing up for their picnic. Harriers continue to have a good year, for us,
with thirty-eight pumping through. We counted ten turkey vultures, but
their moving day is coming soon. Bald eagles seem to be inclined to move
this year, with another nine added today. Six red-tails were noted. One
osprey and one peregrine completed the count.
Non-raptor Observations:
We did see some pelicans today with a flight of about forty. Yesterday, we
saw a few roosting out by the jetty. Warblers are present, but not in huge
numbers. Huge numbers belong to the blue jays at this time of year, we
counted three thousand, five hundred and twenty-five today. We may have
missed some in the significant humidity-haze off to the north. A pair of
killdeers, acting as falcon imposters, flew by early in the morning. We
have not really had any rain since the watch started so our marshes are
showing the effects, being much drier than usual. Caspian and Forster’s
terns continue to fish but not in great numbers. I’m not sure in the
water is heating up, but large bass are jumping frequently in the slip in
front of us. The numbers for monarchs also jumped today with nine hundred
and seventy-one.
Predictions:
My first prediction is that Hawk Fest for Lake Erie Metro Park will
commence tomorrow. If you are interested is seeing hawks up close and
learning more about them, then come on down. We are at the boat launch,
which is apart from the other festivities. It should be a little cooler
tomorrow with more clouds. The winds will mostly be from the east and
fairly significant during the watch hours, which has the effect of driving
the birds to the north. Winds, much like the currents in the rivers and
oceans, affect the bodies subject to those flowing masses. Sunday seems to
be iffy at the moment with more turbulent weather and the possibility of
thunderstorms at some point. The winds will shift to the south for a few
days and our good days may be a fond memory until the northeast winds
return.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
