Hawk Watch - 19 Sep 2020
I finally got out for a little birding this morning. With the digiscoping book / project keeping me occupied since early June I was rarely able to get out of the house. Today, I'd head down to the Detroit River Hawk Watch at Lake Erie Metropark.
The peak window for Broad-winged Hawk migration has been occurring during the past several days; unfortunately, strong north winds the past 2 days have pushed the flights south to Pt. Mouillee SGA HQ, so upwards of 15,000 birds were missed at LEMP. Meanwhile, Holiday Beach has enjoyed some big numbers of birds.
This morning the winds had died, so I was lucky to be at the count site when a few nice kettles of hawks built up and flew overhead. Some had drifted north, while others soared directly overhead. By late morning the birds would be drifting south over Lake Erie and back to Pt. Mouillee.
I was extremely happy with the Sony a7RIV, Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3, and 1.4TC combo. Focus locked on well to distant birds as long as I started at 200mm then zoomed to 600mm. Adding the APS-C mode to the camera also helped boost magnifications without loss of focus.
Lake Erie Metropark--Detroit River Hawk Watch, Wayne, Michigan, US
Sep 19, 2020 10:00 AM
Protocol: Incidental
Checklist Comments: Detroit River Hawk Watch
1 species
Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus) 3500
View this checklist online at https://ebird.org/checklist/S1
This report was generated automatically by eBird v3 (https://ebird.org/home)
