Date: 11/8/25 3:10 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (08 Nov 2025) 88 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 08, 2025
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 16:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Frank Kitakis,
Johannes Postma, 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:
The count lay smothered beneath a canopy of cloud that stretched from
horizon to horizon. The stratus was textured with deep striations, gray as
a dead man’s ribs. Its cold, empty stare cast a somber mood, daring us to
find raptors within its folds. Silvered veils, curled and scalloped, hinted
at the sun beyond, but the sky never broke. The northern currents blew
gently against our faces, and the wind chill kept the temperature below
forty degrees. The barometer made a feeble attempt to rise but could not
top thirty inches. Although it was cold and the sky mostly vacant, it could
have been worse—it could have been raining.
Raptor Observations:
Although the winds seemed as though they should have provided a highway for
aerial travel, the raptors did not find it as appealing as we had hoped.
Forty-nine Turkey Vultures took gold on the podium today, clinging to the
limelight even into November. With over ninety thousand counted this
season, they’ve had an excellent year. In second place were the
Red-tails—no surprise there—with twenty-three representatives. Six
Northern Harriers came in third, followed by four Bald Eagles, three
Red-shoulders, two Golden Eagles, and one Sharp-shin.
Non-raptor Observations:
Bonaparte’s Gulls and Forster’s Terns joined the usual Ring-bills and
Herring Gulls in front of us. An impressive flight of several hundred
pelicans was strung out in two long lines over Lake Erie. Common Goldeneye,
Red-breasted Merganser, and Common Loon passed overhead—all flying north
toward the river. The new resident Merlin hunted the Metropark marsh before
returning to Gibraltar.
Predictions:
Tomorrow could bring the first snow of the season! More likely, though, it
will be a slushy, wet mess falling from the sky. The forecast currently
calls for precipitation all day, so the count will likely be canceled.
Monday’s winds are expected to blow at fourteen miles per hour out of the
north. Although it will be gusty, we may see a few migrants before the
weather shifts again.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Jo Patterson (<jopatterson06...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
