Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Today, May 31st, was the last day of the 2024 West Skyline Hawk Count. Since the beginning of March, 26,776 raptors and 55,546 TOTAL birds (everything from raptors to passerines to shorebirds) were counted migrating through Duluth! The largest numbers, as expected, belong to the Broad-winged Hawk with 11,663 individuals.

We want to say a huge thank you to all of our volunteers and supporters who have stopped at the spring count to help us spot birds. We hope everyone has a wonderful summer, and we will see you at the fall count which starts on August 15!

📸 Broad-winged Hawk photo by Sean McLaughlin.

Today is the last day of the Hawk Ridge 2024 West Skyline Hawk Count! After the rains move through we should be at the overlook near Enger Park.

Did you know that we see a lot of Southern Bald Eagles coming north through Minnesota after they are finished nesting? There is excellent foraging for them up here, but it is also the third highest reason for mortality when they arrive in established territories; it is only third after hatch year mortality and lead poisoning. Most raptors are also molting at this time, so you may see birds that seem to be missing wing or tail feathers.

📸 Bald Eagle photo by Frank Nicoletti.

Happy Memorial Day from all of us at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, and thank you to all who have served our country.

Our popular color-changing mug is now available to purchase online! Get ready for your warm summer drinks in style, and watch as our 50th anniversary logo magically appears!

Please note, these mugs are not dishwasher-safe, and should only be handwashed.

https://mugexp.com/products/hawk-ridge

What a windy day! We didn’t have nearly as many birds come through today in the gusts as yesterday (swipe to see those totals!), but there were still birds flying. Tomorrow is looking to be a great day, with southwest winds that should push the birds towards Duluth. We will be on West Skyline at the overlook below Enger Park.

There is ONE WEEK left in our 2024 spring migration count! Our last day of counting is Friday, May 31st. We hope you will join us, either in person or by checking the links through our website, HawkRidge.org.

Heading to the beach? Look out for our beloved coastal birds and remember to . Give birds at least 100 feet of space to safely nest and rest.

Opt outside and learn about bird migration and research with Hawk Ridge!

We are scheduling our fall migration field trips for the months of September and October, and would love to host your group!

Visit our website HawkRidge.org or email [email protected] to learn more and to schedule your program!

We don’t need to watch planes, we have an air show of our own! We are counting below Enger Park today and as of 10:00 am have already seen 20 Bald Eagles and 16 Broad-winged Hawks. We hope to see you soon!

📸 Photo by Sean McLaughlin.

Look alive, people!

Turkey Vultures (Cathartes aura) are well known for their sense of smell and eating carrion; because of the high acid content in their stomach, vultures can eat just about anything, including bones! Turkey Vultures almost never attack live prey, unlike their close relative the Black Vulture. While they may be a large bird, you can distinguish them between Bald Eagles in flight, by the way they soar wobbly in a V-shape. We have counted 3,639 migrating over Duluth since March 1st!

📸 Photo by Sean McLaughlin.

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory is excited to announce we are hiring a full-time Research Director to join our team! This new position is a great career opportunity for someone to help lead and build the bird research of Hawk Ridge. Please click here for job announcement & application:

https://www.hawkridge.org/about-us/employment-internships/

Thompson Hill has been fogged in all day, which means no count today. Winds look to be from the east tomorrow, so we will again be at Thompson Hill if the weather allows it. The weekend is looking nice for counting!

📸 Sharp-shinned Hawk by Sean McLaughlin.

Common Nighthawks are a frequent visitor to Duluth during migration. Wednesday’s free online program from HMANA would be a great opportunity to learn more about the species!

Join us on May 15 at 12 p.m. EST for our Lunch and Learn as we welcome Elly Knight to discuss her research on the Common Nighthawk. Despite being widely distributed across North America, these ground-nesting birds are often elusive due to their nocturnal habits. Elly will shed light on the decline of this long-distance migrant and how emerging research and community science are helping conserve this species. Don't miss this insightful talk from a Quantitative Ecologist with over a decade of experience studying Common Nighthawks!

This program is FREE and open to all. Registration is required, please click the link below to register.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIucu-rqzMvHtPM_n7wK1VVtPczdntJYNiN?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1l-A7-aY8yix2Y-aqjWT0dWwya9Xrx-j3fbReWZ4ElvFtMjeNpQwmmfSc_aem_AXZz0RAEuFot03S-PHtLQml1vbzrFIOWobnT8OajdfHlasKPLk4IGoeI5wDlAsclguekpPBVxxRhaNPfwqnvWcrq #/

We reached two spring migration milestones today. Our Bald Eagle season total reached 5,000 AND our Broad-winged Hawk season total reached 10,000! Our total raptor count since March 1st is now sitting at 23,981 birds.

The West Skyline Hawk Count goes through May 31. Thank you to all of our supporters and volunteers for visiting the count!

📸 Photos by Sean McLaughlin.

Happy Global Big Day and Migratory Bird Day! Today, the entire birding community of the world is trying to observe as many species as possible and input their checklists into eBird. We hope you have a fantastic day of birdwatching, whether you have 5 minutes or all day (we know some of you started at midnight)!

We are at the West Skyline overlook below Enger Park today. Happy birding!

Tomorrow is both Global Big Day and World Migratory Bird Day! Read about avian migration here, and join us tomorrow at the hawk count to watch the birds!

Talking Minnesota’s migratory birds with U of M Avian Ecologist Steve Kolbe with the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota Duluth answers questions about migratory bird populations in Minnesota, their migration routes and patterns and the condition of their habitats.

PEREGRINE! Late April and early May is peak timing for Peregrine Falcon migration in the western Great Lakes, as these birds return to their arctic nesting grounds. They are always exciting to see, especially when we get to witness the incredible speeds they are known for when diving for prey! The West Skyline Hawk Count has counted 26 of these powerful raptors since March 1.

Peregrine Falcon photo by Sean McLaughlin.

Yesterday’s reel did not carry over from Instagram well (this is the board highlighted in it), so for those of you wondering, it has been a great couple of days for the hawk watch! With 2,936 raptors counted yesterday and 1,717 today, we are now sitting at a season total of 22,458!

Our annual spring count began on March 1st and goes through the end of May. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch with us!

Tonight, May 6, is forecasted to be peak spring migration! Please remember to turn off non-essential lights to provide a safer journey for birds during migration.

Even Grogu wants to watch birds.
Happy Star Wars day! Hopefully the rain stops soon so we can watch hawks!

We want to learn about your raptor research project here in Duluth, MN at the HMANA 50th Anniversary Conference Nov. 7-10th! Check out the call for posters below! Hope to see you there! 🦅

CALL FOR POSTERS! HMANA is looking for POSTER PRESENTERS for our 50th anniversary conference this fall (Nov 7-10, 2024). If you’d like to present a poster on a current raptor research topic, abstract submissions (300 words or less) can be emailed to Julie Brown, [email protected] by June 1, 2024. Please designate a Professional or Student (graduate or undergraduate). More info at https://www.hmana.org/50thconference-programs/
Photo of Red-tailed Hawk by David Mathiason

Opt outside and learn about bird migration and research with Hawk Ridge! We are scheduling our spring migration field trips during the month of May, held at Enger Park, and would love to host your group.

Visit our website HawkRidge.org or email [email protected] to learn more and to schedule your program!

Time flies when you're having fun! April came and went in a flash, and with it, over 13,000 raptors! Significant stretches of warm, sunny weather and favorable winds produced several thousand Red-tailed Hawks, Broad-winged Hawks, Turkey Vultures and Sharp-shinned Hawks. April is when spring hawk watching hits its stride! Most of our regular migrants reached their peak, and new arrivals were daily.

One of the most exciting parts of April is the return of Broad-wingeds en masse, which occurred from April 22-26. Hundreds of Sharp-shinneds, Vultures and Bald Eagles also joined the fun on these days! While some large flights occur on southwest winds (at Enger Tower), several of this years big days were experienced from Thompson Hill with a light northeast breeze. The cool lake air undercuts thermal energy and almost always creates an eye-level Broad-winged flight! It is not something to miss.

The good news is spring is only two-thirds complete! Early May can experience days just like late April, so keep an eye out for a nice day and soak in the beauty of migration in Duluth. Counts continue every day until May 31.

Hope to see you at the watch!
Sean McLaughlin
Spring Counter

This spring we are launching a project at Hawk Ridge to study migratory connectivity. What is migratory connectivity? It’s the linking of all the locations that a bird uses during its whole annual cycle. From breeding, to migration, to wintering grounds! Understanding migratory connectivity is important for discovering where birds might be experiencing threats to their survival.

For this project we are using two different technologies, GPS+Cellular transmitters and stable isotope analysis, to understand the many locations that birds in the Minnesota region utilize.

Over the past few weeks we deployed transmitters on adult Sharp-shinned Hawks and Northern Harriers to determine their breeding grounds this spring. We can’t wait to see where they go and whether they’ll return to Duluth for fall migration.

Where do you think these birds are now? More updates to come!

Thanks to all who have helped with transmitter deployment this spring: Frank Nicoletti, Danny Erickson, Emily Pavlovic, David Alexander, Alexis Grinde, Abbie Valine, Allie Pesano, and Abby Odegard.

Thanks to our friends Cellular Tracking Technologies for the transmitter design.
This project was funded by Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

Join Hawk Ridge for a birding trip to Guatemala Highlands and Lake Atitlán from October 20 – October 30!

Guatemala is a richly diverse cultural center and a lush and vibrant paradise for birders. Set in the heart of Central America, it sits within one of the Western Hemisphere’s prime migratory corridors. Join Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory’s Margie Menzies and an expert local guide to explore a variety of low and high altitude habitats and see firsthand many of the rare and endemic species that inhabit this biodiverse area. Learn about local conservation efforts, including the Panajachel-based Asociación Vivamos Mejor, which seeks to train nearby residents to become birding and nature guides.

https://www.hawkridge.org/event/birding-guatemalas-highlands-and-lake-atitlan/

Today is shaping up to be our third consecutive day of 1,000-plus Broad-winged Hawks; as of noon, we have already counted 483! Yesterday we saw most of them in the afternoon, so there is still time to join us at Thompson Hill and enjoy the flight!

Today was another great flight of birds! With over 1,945 counted today, our season total has jumped to over 12,500 raptors counted since March 1.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast is looking the same, which means there could be a similar flight of birds (but anything is possible). Happy hawk watching!

It was an exciting day yesterday! The day started with Sharpies on the lakeshore, and gradually built up to a low and busy flight. Broad-wingeds lifted off with a vengeance and didn't stop! Kettles reached 250+ birds, then abruptly dropped off when the cold front passed and killed thermals. The flight was diverse with Osprey, Red-tails and falcons mixing into kettles. The lake breeze kicked in after noon, and the flight was greatly diminished in strong NE winds. Fog and rain shut down the count for a short stint, and just a few sharpies moved post rain.

We are counting at Thompson Hill today. Have a wonderful day!

Our spring count staff will be participating in the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) Raptorthon this Saturday, April 27th. The goal is to count the maximum number of raptors on that day for raptor conservation and share in the beautiful migration with visitors of all ages. You are welcome to visit us at the hawkwatch or participate in our full weekend Spring Migration Celebration workshop (details at hawkridge.org)! Funds raised help support both Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory programs, such as our spring migration count and education, and HMANA programs, such as their HawkWatch fund & HawkCount database and more! Thank you & we truly appreciate your support - you can find the donation link here:
https://www.hmana.org/product/west-skyline-spring-count-team/

Happy Merlin Monday! As of noon, we have already counted three of these falcons, and over 200 total raptors! We are counting below Enger Park on West Skyline today It’s already a wonderful Earth Day!

Merlin photo by Sean McLaughlin.

Stop by the Duluth Children's Museum today to say hi and celebrate Earth Day! Hawk Ridge will have a table here with fun activities until 2:00 pm. 🌎