Windy Day at Hawk Watch - 26 Oct 2025

Forecasts called for a "perfect conditions" today at the Detroit River Hawk Watch. Clear skies, temps in the mid 50's, and NNE winds at 5-9 mph would be ideal for a great flight of raptors over Lake Erie Metropark. However, when I checked hawkcount.org I noticed that only 4 birds were recorded in the first 3 hours! I decided to head down at noon to see how the action really was. 

Arriving at the Boat Launch a little after noon I noticed that winds were gusting up to 20 mph and all scopes were pointing over Lake Erie. Sure enough, large kettles of Turkey Vultures were being seen, but they were all miles away over Canada and Lake Erie. With Jo (Patterson) off for the day Andrew (Sturgess) was lead counter and could be heard muttering under his breath at how much he wanted to kill some meteorologists.

One Golden Eagle had been reported earlier, and I managed to track one over the lake before it disappeared into the trees. Several Bald Eagles could be seen soaring over Celeron Island but it wasn't until mid-afternoon that one came close enough for the visitors to see.

Shout-out to Michelle Peregord for volunteering to count American Crows. She tallied 10,000+ birds for the day, which was no easy feat considering their distance and intermingling with kettles of Turkey Vultures. Luckily, they never "glide" but continuously flap their wings so they can easily be differentiated from other raptors.

Our highlight bird of the day was a dark-morph Rough-legged Hawk that crossed overhead late in the afternoon and gave nice looks under clear skies.

Red-tailed Hawks got a late start with most birds seen during the afternoon hours. Some even crossed in front of us.

A juvenile Bald Eagle was the last photographable bird of the afternoon before I had to leave at 4 pm.

We'd tally just under 7000 birds for the day, which was a nice compliment to yesterday's 8000 raptor day.