Photo of the Week: Detroit River Hawk Watch

Blue and black horizontal banner with brown and white Sharp-shinned hawk with outstretched wings flying in a blue sky hangs on two poles. In the background is the boat channel to Lake Erie with trees on the shoreline.

Each fall, starting in early September I make almost weekly treks to Lake Erie Metropark on the western shore of Lake Erie to view one of the most impressive fall hawk migrations in North America.

This year marks the 43rd year of the Detroit River Hawk Watch (DRHW), where thousands of raptors can be seen streaming over the Lake Erie Metropark boat launch during fall migration.

Continue reading Photo of the Week: Detroit River Hawk Watch

Photo of the Week: Cooper’s Hawk at Belle Isle State Park

medium-sized brown-barred white-breasted hawk perches on bare branch.

One of the first things you learn as a birder is to look up to see the birds.

And in winter, it’s a lot easier to look for birds in the trees and shrubs: there are no leaves to hide the birds.

When I noticed the sounds of animals along the trail at Detroit’s Belle Isle State Park had suddenly gone quiet, I knew there had to be a reason. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Cooper’s Hawk at Belle Isle State Park

Photo of the Week: Watching Broad-winged Hawks Growing Up

Young Broad-wing hawk with fuzzy white down sits on a nest of twigs and dead leaves.

When you walk down the shady paved trail along the Huron River, you can hear water rushing by, the sound of Indigo Buntings singing in the distance, and muffled conversations of couples as they stroll down the trail.

Unless you listen carefully, you might not recognize the sounds of a family far above you, about 75 feet up, in the forest canopy.

A family that’s taken over an abandoned squirrel nest in the forks of a mature cottonwood tree. Continue reading Photo of the Week: Watching Broad-winged Hawks Growing Up