Date: 9/30/26 1:42 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (30 Sep 2026) 13 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 13:30:00
Total observation time: 5.5 hours
Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bella Maiwurm, Don Sherwood,
Rebekah Graham
Visitors:
We welcome visitors to our site at the Lake Erie Metropark Boat Launch. We
are always willing to discuss the events of the day. Let us share our
enthusiasm with you. There will be busy days, that may require our full
attention, but those are not that frequent, and they provide great thrills
for all. We can predict good days to some degree, but the exact hour is up
to the birds, so be prepared to put in some time for the best results. Pack
a lunch😊
Weather:
As far as the birds go, it was all quiet on the Western Front. Not so quiet
aurally, as we were treated to the dulcet tones of both the monthly siren
test for Fermi II, and the machinegun-like sound of the pile driver again.
The day was overcast with occasional darkening of segments of the sky that
made rain seem imminent, it did not arrive until the mid-afternoon hours.
The barometer waffled a little, actually rising a little before resuming a
downward trend. The temperature reached seventy degrees. The winds�therein
lies the rub, came out of the south, or south-southwest all day. In the
seven to nine mph range, it had moved some of the water from our slip up to
Buffalo and created a choppy lake.
Raptor Observations:
Those of you with triskaidekaphobia might want to skip this part of the
report. We only managed thirteen birds today. Eight were sharpies,
kestrels and merlins tied for the second-place award with two apiece, and a
gray ghost northern harrier brought up the rear.
Non-raptor Observations:
The pelicans were present today but in much fewer numbers than yesterday.
Some of them were seen in the cormorant horde that was eating at the Lake
Erie Golden Corral. A few warblers were seen in the trees nearby,
blackpoll, butter-butts and maggies being among their number. The Forster�s
terns continue to dive with abandon in the slip. The Caspian terns have
moved over to waters behind one of the Gibraltar islands. Bella and Mark
almost came to blows over the ancestry of a gull perched on a channel
marker buoy. Gulls are hard, and it was a very slow watch. Blue jays made a
rebound from their surprisingly low numbers yesterday. Today we had two
thousand, three-hundred and forty-seven pass by. A lone monarch was noted.
Predictions:
Tomorrow will be a continuation of today�s system with full cloud cover,
projected rain at some point during the day, and a falling barometer that
should bottom out tomorrow evening. The barometer will rebound strongly
with northerly winds coming with the high-pressure moving in. This bodes
well, although the winds may not favor our site. The weekend looks better
than tomorrow. The temperature tomorrow will be seventy-six, winds will be
out of the south again, reaching higher speeds than today. The rain is
predicted to come after the watch, but I think the birds will pass on this
opportunity, the same as today.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
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