Date: 10/6/26 2:47 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (06 Oct 2026) 1667 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 06, 2026
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bella Maiwurm, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood,
Mark Hainen, Michelle Peregord, 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:
Today�s lesson was about diminishing returns. The wind at the start of the
watch was zero, it gradually grew to nine mph, at its peak, from the
dreaded southwest. Our hourly count totals diminished as the wind picked
up. We made a little rebound in the last hour, but only by strip mining TVs
on the edge of visibility in the haze to the north. The temperature
exceeded expectations by three degrees, reaching sixty-eight-degrees. The
skies were never really crowded with clouds, a nice display of cirrocumulus
clouds in the morning hours moved along leaving only sparse remnants of
clouds to contrast with the blue sky. It was a nice summer-like day for
October, which has yet to show its teeth. The barometer was headed down at
a sharp angle on the graph, dropping two tenths over the course of the
watch. This will continue tomorrow with another three tenths of pressure
drop.
Raptor Observations:
This is October, so those must be turkey vultures. Thankfully, the birds
are distinctive, even in the hazy soup that was today�s distant sky.
Fifteen hundred and fifty-three passed by when they finally made up their
minds to move, after some back and forth in some cases. A distant second
was the sharpie contingent with seventy-four members. It was a tight battle
between the harriers and kestrels for the bronze. Harriers took it with
eighteen, besting the kestrels by one, who came very close with seventeen.
With two merlin and one peregrine falcon, the falcon hat-trick was achieved
again. One red-tailed hawk and a lonely broad-winged hawk made up the final
members of today�s count.
Non-raptor Observations:
A quiet day for the pelicans, perhaps some kind of holiday for them, as
only a few were seen today. The southern winds maybe affecting them as
well. Forster�s terns and Caspian terns are still attacking the fish with
total abandon; CTE apparently not a concern for them. The gulls were not an
issue today; the swarms of flying ants must have passed their peak. The
cormorants were not seen en masse on the lake today, but the wind had
whipped up white caps that grew as the day progressed so the waters were
choppy. We are starting to see lines of unidentified ducks in the distance.
Only six-hundred and twenty blue jays were noted today. The winds must have
pushed the monarchs to the north too, none were observed.
Predictions:
The falling barometer is of concern tomorrow, a one-day low will visit,
packing high southwest winds. The pressure is predicted to be twenty-nine
point seventy-three, a significant drop from the thirty point twenty-four
at the start of the day today. Both the southwest winds and the pressure
drop are bad omens. The winds should peak in double digits at thirteen mph.
There should be some increase in cloud cover but there will be sun as well.
The temperature should be seventy-seven degrees as the southwest winds
bring the heat. It will be difficult to see what birds may be traveling as
they will be pushed to the north in a hazy sky.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
--
Birders is a service of the Great Lakes Commission. Visit us at www.glc.org
Messages and content distributed on Birders are the sole responsibility of the subscriber providing such content and
do not reflect the views, policy or position of the Great Lakes
Commission.
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Birders" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to birders+<unsubscribe...>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/a/great-lakes.net/d/msgid/birders/<010101a1132f4917-eb7d2abe-3ba6-4c81-bc32-4d14bb148ace-000000...>
