Date: 9/23/25 3:33 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (23 Sep 2025) 147 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 23, 2025
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Don Sherwood, Jerry Jourdan, Mark Hainen,
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:
Heavy fog blanketed the landscape through the first two hours, limiting
visibility to little more than a curtain of gray, and it did not fully lift
until midday. The dense, pea-soup haze swallowed our distant
landmarks—Canada and the antennas—leaving them hidden from view. To the
southwest, dark nimbostratus clouds churned with an ominous weight, but
their threat of rain never materialized. The lingering haze to the north
was less forgiving, obscuring the skies where more migrants were surely
being carried along by the steady southwest winds. Temperatures rose to
75°F once more, though the heat only became noticeable in the final hour,
when cloud cover thinned from a solid blanket to a fractured half.
Raptor Observations:
The first hour passed without a single bird, but we can’t fault them for
choosing to wait out the fog. A trickle began in the second hour, but it
wasn’t until the fog finally lifted that the hourly counts climbed into
the double digits. By the day’s end, we tallied eighty-three sharpies,
twenty-six kestrels, and fourteen broad-wings. The broad-wings appeared in
two small kettles and a handful of singles. A kettle of five Turkey
Vultures spiraled upward before streaming south, leaving little doubt they
were migrants. Eight Northern Harriers, three Red-tailed Hawks, three
Peregrine Falcons, two Ospreys, two Bald Eagles, and a lone Cooper’s Hawk
rounded out the flight, bringing the day’s total to one hundred and
forty-seven migrants from ten different species.
Non-raptor Observations:
A Caspian Tern was photographed with a small muskie. It spent a few long
seconds wrestling the fish into a head-first position, and another before
finally swallowing it whole. American White Pelicans continue to linger
near Celeron, though their presence is complicated by the Mute Swans
scattered among them, making it tricky to distinguish and count the two
large white species bobbing together on the water. Over one thousand Blue
Jays came through today.
Predictions:
Tomorrow's count will likely be rained out, with a 70% chance of rain
expected throughout the entire period. Updates on the count's status will
be posted on the Facebook page.
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Report submitted by Erika Van Kirk (<erika_vankirk...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
