Date: 9/2/25 3:59 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (02 Sep 2025) 25 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 02, 2025
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 15:00:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Erika Van Kirk, Johannes Postma,
Mark Hainen
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:
We had a little bit of good fortune today as the predicted wind shift to
the southeast did not materialize until later than predicted. Not that
today’s count will go down in the annals of the watch site as a
red-letter day, but something is better than nothing. The winds stayed
northerly in the morning hours, although the swing around the compass to
the southeast did take place and once again, as the wind blew off the lake,
we were treated to an everchanging, ever-growing, multi-hued and
multi-textured convective cumulus cloud buildup and dissipation that would
have pleased to no end Mr. Luke Howard… had he not been dead some 160
years. (Howard was the original cloud whisperer who was so fascinated with
clouds that he devised a system for classification that was adopted
worldwide and he gave them the Latin names that we still use today.) But I
digress; temperatures reached past the mid-seventies, but again we didn’t
feel the full effect due to the cooling wind off the lake. The barometer
was falling, but taking its time as it barely dropped below the thirty-inch
mark at day’s end, having started the best part of two tenths higher at
the midnight hour. With the relative humidity relatively low, it was a
pleasant early fall day.
Raptor Observations:
The northern winds carried a small number of broadwings our way this
morning with them being pushed further away as the winds shifted to a more
easterly direction. Three was the biggest number we saw together, with most
being solo travelers. The final tally was nineteen. Harriers reached the
second step on the podium with late afternoon arrivals, but three birds is
a pretty puny showing for second place. Two kestrels placed third, while a
single red-tailed hawk brought up the rear.
Non-raptor Observations:
Our purple martins had decided to roost elsewhere overnight but made an
appearance off to the north in the early hours. I suspect the winds were
moving most of the insect biomass to the north as the swallows, swifts and
martins were much scarcer than yesterday. They also took most of the gulls
with them. Cedar waxwings were present and accounted for today, hawking
insects from their usual tree perches. Pelicans were back in force today as
several flights were noted with a total over one hundred, and possibly
higher since it is hard to tell with those birds whether one group has
splintered from the main group, circled around, and reemerged as a new
flight. The story of the day though was one of our local eagles who took an
interest in some, probably long deceased, object in the water. It was
hounded by a young ring-billed gull, who was acting very aggressively. The
eagle made several passes, unable to connect with its target before
actually landing on the water, much to our collective surprise. We were
unable to tell if the bird had anything in its talons, but it did make one
attempt to lift off without success and it looked like it had a heavier
load than it could lift. The eagle stayed in the water, floating like a
duck for five minutes! (We timed it.) It finally lifted off without any
cargo, none the worse for wear apparently. It was an interesting thing to
see as it was a first for all of us. They usually pluck items from the
water with only the talons getting wet, unlike the osprey, who literally
goes all in. You learn something every day.
Predictions:
Tomorrow should be a mostly sunny day as the barometer continues to drop,
ushering a couple of days of cloudy low pressure with some precipitation
indicated in the forecast. Temperatures will be knocking at eighties door
with southerly winds bringing up the heat from more southern climes. Hold
on to your hats though, as the next day will only reach the mid-sixties as
more northerly winds take over. The rainfall is predicted for the overnight
hours between Wednesday and Thursday. The strong southwest winds, rising to
double digits, are not our favorite and the count results will probably be
meager.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
