Date: 10/25/26 3:53 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (25 Oct 2026) 768 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 6 hours
Official Counter: Bella Maiwurm
Observers: Don Sherwood, Erika Van Kirk, 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:
Mr. Sandburg's fog arrived quietly on little cat feet overnight, enveloping
Lake Erie Metropark in her looming, solemn presence. The count was delayed
by an hour until she saw a different harbor and city to occupy and padded
on, the heat of the late morning sun illuminating the last foggy puffs of
her tail. As a reminder of what had been, the haze on the horizon remained,
requiring counters to strain their eyes through granules of nothing to see
what few raptors were present with clarity. The sky stayed in a wispy
state, covered in wide swaths of gauzy cirrus clouds with some holes of
blue. The barometer remained high, perhaps explaining what migration
movement we did have in the face of low south and southwest winds.
Raptor Observations:
The day started with a single sharp-shinned hawk who turned out to be the
only one migrating that hour, and was joined across the day by seven more
of its compatriots. In the second hour, the turkey vultures came, popping
up abruptly all the way at the end of the channel, a northwesterly opening
in the landscape where the vultures often start their day and continue in a
slow but steady stream. We clicked seven hundred and forty-five of them.
Whilst counting down the channel, we picked up a few buteos that crossed
with the vultures, mostly red-tails (eight) but with one red-shouldered
mixed in. And, to our delight, two golden eagles rode the same flightline
and made the whole day worth it�drifting only slightly more laboriously
than the vultures across the channel, wings up in a wide V, primaries
curled like the ends of an elegantly waxed mustache.
Non-raptor Observations:
Streams of cormorants graced the skies today, three hundred in number. A
flock of eight mute swans crossed the lake twice, one with the wiggly shape
of a wry neck. Three great blue herons flew in concert to Celeron, circled
there, then came back. Not a single duck was noted outside the usual
mallards. Various passerines were heard, including woodpeckers, kinglets,
wrens, and sparrows. Only the yellow-rumped warblers remain with us now,
and we will enjoy them as long as we can. A mere sixty-three blue jays in
varying group sizes migrated, as did five crows who were completely
outnumbered by the twenty monarchs who passed by.
Predictions:
Tomorrow's westerly to northerly winds, high barometer, and partly cloudy
skies are nearly on the verge of ideal for this site. Between the pressure
and the wind, raptors will receive a boost and a light shove in the right
direction, and have partly clear skies to fly in. I wouldn't be surprised
to tomorrow brought a few more raptors our way compared to today's numbers.
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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
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