HAWK RIDGE

Its fall! 

I love love love fall! 

The cooler weather, scarfs, hoodies, fleece and warm drinks. 

Oh and its MIGRATION season!!! 

Katie, Frank and I at the top of the ridge

Here in Minnesota we have Hawk Ridge, which happens to be one of the best migration spots for watching raptors right in the city of Duluth. This past week I was lucky enough to head up to the ridge and watch some birds. Katie and I also were able to catch up with some friends! Of course, on our way home, we swung into the Audubon Center so I could see some folks and critters. What a fantastic way to spend a couple days off.

Katie and I holding hatch year sharp-shinned hawks after they were banded

I adopted a Merlin!!! I was able to release this beautiful bird after it was banded

Saying Hi to Spike!

Migration

For my birthday, I received a bunch of books that have been on my “To Read” list for quite some time. One of the books was No Way Home: The Decline of the World’s Great Animal Migrations by David Wilcove.  This book takes you through some of the world’s most amazing migrations of the sky, water and land. It starts with birds and monarchs. Next, the author follows the migrations of the large mammals in Africa and North American plains. Lastly (but perhaps the most interesting to me) was the migrations of whales, turtles and salmon.

The message of this book is about the disappearance of the worlds major migration events. While many of the animals are in no immediate threat of extinction, the scale of these events is changing. Rather than having heards that have millions of buffalo, we now have much smaller herds of a couple hundred or thousand. The reason for the change is simple; the success of a predator known as Homo sapiens. Humans have single handedly changed the landscape in more than one way. Each of these could have an impact on a population but as a whole the impacts are far reaching. We have hunted animals to the point of extintion (or close to it). We have broken up the forests so migrating animals no longer have resting spots. We have polluted our waters so much that fish and whales get tangled in fishline or mistake plastic bags for jellyfish. The list goes on. 

Some people may say that we shouldn't be concerned. These animals have numbers that show they will be around for decades still. But these are the events that inspire us and take our breath away. That is worth a lot (in my opinion anyways). I hope to see at least one of these great migrations soon - perhaps one spring I will see the Sandhill Cranes at the Platte River in Nebraska. This is a nice quick and informative read. Whats really fun is that I already got to use some of the information in a class taught at Audubon!

Newsletter

Me and Isis, a female American Kestrel

Check out the latest edition of The Audubon Center of the North Woods newsletter, in particular page 2. Another intern and I wrote an article about migration of the captive species we have on site. audubon-center.org/Fall2010

Hawk Ridge

Overlooking Lake Superior first thing in the morning

As the weather starts to change, migration starts. Here in Minnesota is one of the top raptor migration sites in North America - Hawk Ridge (hawkridge.org). Due to several factors, thousands of raptors pass over this ridge on the way south due each year. The first factor is the numerous thermals that are formed on a nice sunny day. This allows the raptors to soar and glide south rather than flap the whole way. The second factor is Lake Superior. Birds of prey generally won't fly over large bodies of water. These, along with a few other factors, funnel a large number of birds from Canada over this single ridge.

First year Sharp-shinned Hawk

The key to Hawk Ridge is weather. If the weather is rainy, you might as well stay home since the birds are not going to be moving. On nice sunny days, you get a respectable number of birds migrating though. The best weather for raptor migration is the first sunny day following a couple rainy days. On those days, you can see tens of thousands.

Broad-winged Hawk

Today was a good day to be at hawk ridge. After a few showers early in the morning, the clouds started to break up and thermals started to form. We started our raptor watch with a tour of the banding station. While we were there, they caught and banded 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks. Others, narrowly escaped the net. It was a treat to see all the action. Many of the birds they band are first years. They are still figuring out how to hunt and therefore tend to be a bit hungry. Because of this, they are more likely to be attracted to the lure used to bring them down to the net.

When we returned to the top of the ridge, the action in the sky was just getting underway. In the hour and a half or so that we were there we probably saw several hundred raptors. Our species included: American Kestrel, Broad-winged Hawk, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Bald Eagle, Red-tailed Hawk and a Turkey Vulture.

Not a bad morning!