Date: 10/28/25 12:02 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [birders] Detroit River Hawk Watch (28 Oct 2025) 122 Raptors
Detroit River Hawk Watch
Brownstown, Michigan, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2025
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 12:00:00
Total observation time: 4 hours
Official Counter: Andrew Sturgess, Jo Patterson
Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood,
Johannes Postma
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:
So, if you want to know how it was at the watch today, get in your car and
drive for a couple of hours at twenty mph with your head out the window.
You are liable to see as many birds as we did. The winds were reasonable in
the first hour, at eight mph from the northeast, but all of a sudden, an
immediate doubling in wind speed, much like a katabatic wind in Antarctica,
created instant whitecaps and flying clipboards. Our location is subject to
the winds coming unabated across Lake Erie, so the weather station report
of nineteen mph seemed a bit conservative to us. Despite the sunny skies,
with mere suggestions of cumulus clouds and temperatures near fifty-seven
degrees, the roaring winds made continuing the watch a fool’s errand and
so we mercifully put it down in the early afternoon.
Raptor Observations:
Before the winds picked up the pace and scrubbed the sky of all but the
most hardy of gulls, we did see birds passing in small groups to the north
of us. One hundred and eighteen turkey vultures, all coming in the first
two hours, make it by. We did count three red-tailed hawks as well. The
first bird of the day was a northern harrier, the only one of its species
to make an appearance. We have had a good run this year and days like this
have not been common, but you have to expect a few more as the weather
changes.
Non-raptor Observations:
Very little to report with other species. The wind was blowing directly
into the slip and the waves were choppy with white horses running in large
packs. In the first calmer hour, Forster’s terns were noted. A lone
cormorant seemed to enjoy flying into the wind, but wasn’t making much
headway. Even the four mallards looking for calmer waters were working hard
with much less ground speed than they were used to. We did have about three
hundred crows in the early hours, but the last ones were staying low in the
lee of the trees.
Predictions:
Tomorrow will seem balmy by comparison, with the winds coming from the
east-northeast with speeds ranging from nine to thirteen mph. Temperatures
will be a couple of degrees cooler, in the mid-fifties. The barometer will
be easing down, as less sunny and wetter weather is on the way, although,
the threat of rain on Thursday seems to be diminishing as the day gets
closer. The winds are not really from our favored direction, but may be
close enough to make things interesting as long as they have a northern
component and are not strictly eastern winds. We are at the very bottom of
a high-pressure zone and there is a strong low close enough to create these
energetic winds we are seeing. Direction is critical though, as the birds
can turn west anywhere from Port Huron to here and strong eastern winds
will make that turn happen earlier.
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Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (<ajyes72...>)
Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at:
http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org
