The Lake Erie Metropark (LEMP) Hawk Watch was established in 1983 under the leadership of Tim Smart. Smart had counted hawks for several seasons at Holiday Beach Conservation Area in Malden Center, Ontario, Canada. He knew that birds moving past Holiday Beach had to cross into Michigan near the Detroit region. Smart scouted the area, trying to find the best and most consistent concentration of hawks. His efforts were soon rewarded with two sites, the LEMP Boat Launch (the main site) and Pointe Mouillee State Game Area Headquarters parking lot (a secondary site), located just south of the Metropark. Both are located just 20 miles south of Detroit in Wayne County, and just eight miles (as the hawk flies) across the Detroit River from Holiday Beach Migration Observatory.
Smart and a handful of dedicated volunteers began counting, mainly on weekends. Even with this limited amount of coverage, Smart knew he had stumbled onto something big. This was fully realized during the fall of 1990 when the counters logged in their first full season of coverage, producing an astounding 106,235 raptors.
Smart served as coordinator of the watch for 16 years. His efforts established the Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Watch as one of the premier fall hawk sites in North America, with some of the most spectacular hawk flights ever recorded. In 1998, Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Watch became Southeastern Michigan Raptor Research (SMRR) and was granted nonprofit status. Smart retired soon afterwards, handing the leadership of SMRR to veteran counter Jeff Schultz.
In April of 2001, Schultz stepped down from the Presidency and became a member-at-large. Paul Cypher, an interpreter at Lake Erie Metropark, was voted in as president. The 2001 season marked a new chapter in SMRR's efforts to monitor the hawk migration over southeast Michigan. DTE Energy demonstrated its continued environmental support by generously providing SMRR a stipend to fund a full-time hawk counter. Their generous support continued for seven seasons. During these years of paid help, SMRR has been fortunate enough to hire three of the best counters in the business: Craig Fosdick and Calvin Brennan.
The 2007 count season saw the addition of two new co-sponsors. The International Wildlife Refuge Alliance and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed funding for a counter. In addition, the USFWS granted funding to help facilitate data entry from all SMRR seasons into HawkCount - a national database provided by the Hawk Migration Association of North America that houses all data from this count. Read more about it at Count Data.
The 2008 count season was a transition year. SMRR turned over the count to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge and its friends' group, the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance.
Seth Cutright was contracted to count in 2009 from funding provided by USFWS. Formal data analysis and compilation of the historical data is being conducted by Drew Panko and Trudy Battaly and funding provided by a grant from USFWS. The final product was completed in 2010 and is available here.
Smart and a handful of dedicated volunteers began counting, mainly on weekends. Even with this limited amount of coverage, Smart knew he had stumbled onto something big. This was fully realized during the fall of 1990 when the counters logged in their first full season of coverage, producing an astounding 106,235 raptors.
Smart served as coordinator of the watch for 16 years. His efforts established the Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Watch as one of the premier fall hawk sites in North America, with some of the most spectacular hawk flights ever recorded. In 1998, Lake Erie Metropark Hawk Watch became Southeastern Michigan Raptor Research (SMRR) and was granted nonprofit status. Smart retired soon afterwards, handing the leadership of SMRR to veteran counter Jeff Schultz.
In April of 2001, Schultz stepped down from the Presidency and became a member-at-large. Paul Cypher, an interpreter at Lake Erie Metropark, was voted in as president. The 2001 season marked a new chapter in SMRR's efforts to monitor the hawk migration over southeast Michigan. DTE Energy demonstrated its continued environmental support by generously providing SMRR a stipend to fund a full-time hawk counter. Their generous support continued for seven seasons. During these years of paid help, SMRR has been fortunate enough to hire three of the best counters in the business: Craig Fosdick and Calvin Brennan.
The 2007 count season saw the addition of two new co-sponsors. The International Wildlife Refuge Alliance and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contributed funding for a counter. In addition, the USFWS granted funding to help facilitate data entry from all SMRR seasons into HawkCount - a national database provided by the Hawk Migration Association of North America that houses all data from this count. Read more about it at Count Data.
The 2008 count season was a transition year. SMRR turned over the count to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge and its friends' group, the International Wildlife Refuge Alliance.
Seth Cutright was contracted to count in 2009 from funding provided by USFWS. Formal data analysis and compilation of the historical data is being conducted by Drew Panko and Trudy Battaly and funding provided by a grant from USFWS. The final product was completed in 2010 and is available here.
In January 2010, the Detroit River Hawk Watch Advisory Committee (DRHWAC) was formed and serves to:
- Advise USFWS on Detroit River Hawk Watch (e.g., count protocol, data management, reports, publications, website and brochure content);
- Actively pursue potential research projects;
- Work collaboratively with the USFWS, IWRA, and staff of Huron Clinton Metropolitan Authority to undertake outreach, programming, interpretation, and other necessary functions for the annual Hawk Fest;
- Review/assist in preparing grants (e.g., Challenge Cost Share Grants from USFWS, foundation grants, Friends Group Grants, etc.) with USFWS and IWRA to support an annual counter, publication costs, and other elements of Detroit River Hawk Watch and Hawk Fest; and
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Recommend contractor/committed skilled volunteers on an annual basis for count or specific data analysis projects.
Rob Payne was contracted for the 2010 count season. An outreach program was piloted with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service volunteers and will continue in 2011. The current website was constructed and DRHW engaged in social media networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. A collaborative approach was pioneered with the Lake Erie Metropark staff at the Marshlands Museum with leadership from Gerry Wykes, Supervising Interpreter. The Metropark shared outreach volunteers and partnered in an event that brought well-known photographer, Vic Berardi, to conduct a seminar in October.
[Last updated 05/2010]