Date: 10/11/25 4:19 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (11 Oct 2025) 4397 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 11, 2025
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood,
Johannes Postma, Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord,
Natalie Cypher, Paul Cypher, 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:
Weatherwise, a day of twists and turns. A look through my pictures shows
blue backgrounds, as well as shots showing a leaden-gray heavy stratus
layer that moved in from time to time. At other times, it was a pleasant
mix of bright cumulus clouds and a blue background. The real-feel
temperatures, and the comfort level of the watchers, rose and fell with the
constantly changing percentage of cloud cover. It was early winter one
moment, and late summer the next. The actual temperature reached
sixty-three degrees. The barometer was fairly steady in the 30.1” range.
The winds were variable, as per usual. Almost nonexistent at the beginning
of the watch, they rose in speed to ten mph from a westerly direction, only
to switch to the north-northwest, and rise and fall in strength from that
direction.
Raptor Observations:
We saw many different flight-lines today, as sometimes turkey vultures’
kettles would split into different sects and depart on their own paths.
The rest of the birds took the very high road for the most part, our neck
muscles tell the tale. The gold was taken by the turkey vultures, as they
should in October, with four thousand, three hundred and twenty birds.
These birds are fascinating to watch as they stream overhead in their
motionless gliding pose hundreds at a time. Sharp-shins beat out the
red-tails by five markers for the silver, with a count of twenty-nine to
twenty-four. Harriers were flying pretty high today and only five were
noted. Four was the number shared by kestrels and bald eagles. Other
falcons present, were one peregrine and one merlin. We had two
red-shouldered hawks. Two golden eagles passed over, nearly together, late
in the day, and our special guest today was an American Goshawk that passed
high overhead after soaring across the slip.
Non-raptor Observations:
The pelicans were feeling their oats today as they had more air time than
we have seen all season. Large flights were seen all over the sky, and for
possibly the first time ever, we had pelican “flak” that was
interfering with counting the raptors, as they sometimes flew in front of
turkey vulture flights, obscuring our view. All of our three terns were
seen today, Caspian, Forster’s, and common. We had not seen the long
strings of cormorants for a few days, but they are still here. Great egrets
seem to be flying higher and in greater numbers the last few days.
Pied-billed grebes are still seeking sustenance in the slip. The blue jay
numbers are waning fast with eight hundred and twenty today. Soon, the
crows will replace them as the bird to count. Only one monarch was seen
today.
Predictions:
Winds are predicted to be northeast, veering to east at some point in the
day. Who knows what they will actually do, but they should stay in the five
to ten mph range. Just enough to tighten the skin on your face by day’s
end. Partly sunny is the forecast, but it looks like it may be either
sunny, or cloudy, by turns, as it was today. Temperatures, despite the
winds from the north, will be about five degrees higher than today. The
barometer will be fairly stable again, staying above the thirty-inch mark.
I suspect we will continue to see flights of turkey vultures and the usual
suspects, although not in huge numbers.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
