Date: 10/26/26 5:06 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (26 Oct 2026) 1974 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 26, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 9 hours
Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister
Observers: Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Jerry Jourdan, Johannes Postma, Rebekah Graham, Rosemary Brady
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: Well, this author nearly had to eat her words from yesterday with forecasting a good weather day. Not a flag so much as stirred in the first couple hours the winds were so nonexistent, and though the sun was out, it seemed to take awhile for the earth to warm and the thermals to lift the turkey vultures. Visibility remained low for most of the day, the wind turbines over Canada staying hazy until the last couple hours. The barometer, meanwhile, stayed quite high all day, in the 30.30" range. Cirrus clouds once again laced the sky in varying patterns, providing a pleasant backdrop for migrating birds.
Raptor Observations: Little did yesterday's counters know that Ejae's lilting voice projecting the ever popular "Golden" for the benefit of the metropark's Trunk or Treat was a foreshadowing of today's events. I won't dilly-dally: This afternoon we had FOURTEEN golden eagles. Though we may not have broken any records (we also had exactly fourteen goldens two years and two days ago), with the slow way the day started and with one of our counters telling a curious passerby, "We could have ten golden eagles today, but that would be very unlikely," it was nothing short of shocking to not only meet but surpass such an arbitrary and unlikely number. Even better, most of the goldens lingered long enough for us to admire their plumage, one particular juvenile catching our eye with fresh feathers it must have grown this summer. The goldens were the star of the show today, but we appreciated the one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight turkey vultures that passed by and brought with them one harrier, eleven red-shoulders, and one hundred and forty-nine red-tails. Two bald eagles, one Cooper's hawk, six sharp-shins, and one merlin also made the journey. A very late day rough-legged hawk made the prolonged count more than worth the effort.
Non-raptor Observations: A nearly impossible number of double-crested cormorants were observed, stirring up the lake with the gulls and pelicans and flying distantly in streams across the sky. Outside of that, the usual characters were out and about, singing away in the bushes, flying across the channel, and dabbling in the shallows. Sandhill cranes were heard but never seen. Forty-five blue jays and three hundred and sixty-five crows were counted. While the blue jays seem to be slowing, the monarchs keep fluttering on en masse, with twenty-four clicked during the day.
Predictions: Tomorrow is predicted to be a cooler and cloudier day, reaching a high of 63F. Winds will be easterly, starting with the northeast and shifting to east southeast, remaining in the 7-9mph range. The barometer will stay high, being 30.30" at its lowest and 30.39" at its highest. The wind direction is less than ideal, but with a high barometer more birds will surely continue their way south. Another fourteen golden eagles in a day seems unlikely, but then. . . we now know what an "unlikely" prediction can lead to. ======================================================================== 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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