Date: 9/20/25 3:31 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (20 Sep 2025) 2079 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 20, 2025
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, 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:
Once again, the nomadic winds determined our fate on a warm September day.
The first hour was northeast at an easy speed and the broadwings showed up
for the Hawk Fest, a little earlier than most of the guests actually. The
wind shifted to the east and started to grow in strength, reaching a peak
of fourteen mph, a little too much octane for most of the raptors. During
the last two hours a waning wind allowed the birds to wander back over our
site in reduced numbers. The temperature reached as high in the seventies
as it could, but the real feel was over eighty-degrees. We, however, were
wearing one extra layer as the wind off the lake, which had small white
horses running during the wind’s top strength, was preventing us from
feeling the heat. The barometer started a decline, as the next week will be
a different weather pattern than the last. Clouds were a thin gauze of icy
cirrus for the most part, a welcome brightness-attemperator for our eyes,
as we searched for raptors that once again took the very high road.
Raptor Observations:
Those pesky broadwings, the now you see em, now you don’t raptors; played
hide and seek with us today, with no discernable consistent flight line.
Still, we managed to corral one thousand, eight hundred, and eleven of the
rascals. Our Hawk Fest guests did get to see the object of their desire, or
at least some did. The sharpies were not so abundant today, one hundred and
six were found. Some turkey vultures are catching the migration fever from
the broadwings, some are still, “Meh.” We tallied one hundred and one
today, their first podium placement. Soon, they will win the gold nearly
every day. Twenty-six kestrels were American and were allowed into the
country. Harriers were a little harder to find today but eighteen were
located. Eight red-tailed hawks soared by on the robust winds. Five bald
eagles of different age groups powered though. We did have the falcon hat
trick today with two merlins and one peregrine to complete the deal. One
osprey was noted hanging with the broadwings.
Non-raptor Observations:
My old home away-from-home for many years, the M/V American Century passed
by upbound today. Of course, she was the M/V Columbia Star in those days. I
think our biggest reaction from the Hawk Fest attendees came when the
American white pelicans made an appearance and kept people entertained with
their aerobatics. About forty birds wheeled and did synchronized-flying for
some time. A massive gull migration took place this morning with hundreds
of gulls moving simultaneously towards the lake for some reason. During the
day, they were forming kettles of their own, as they hawked insects high in
the sky. A distraction, to be sure, as they sometimes mixed with small
groups of broadwings passing through. Four thousand, four hundred and forty
blue jays passed through today.
Predictions:
There is a strong chance of thunderstorms tomorrow. It appears that most
will be in the afternoon, but there is a chance they will affect the watch.
Temperatures will be about the same as today. The barometer will be in
sharp decline and cloud cover will dominate the sky. The early morning
winds before the watch will be easterly but will switch to ESE and S during
the watch. It does not look promising since the birds will try to skirt the
low pressure as there be monsters there. It’s tradition to have one day
of rain during the Hawk Fest, perhaps we can squeeze in the watch before
the heavens open up.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
