Hawk Ridge News - August 2020

 

 

Dear Hawk Ridge Friends,

Happy Migration! Our fall bird migration research started a little over 2 weeks ago.  It's been a great start to the season, as outlined in the count & banding highlights below. You can follow along with our count live each day HERE or on hawkcount.org. Visitors are welcome to come up and view the migration with new safety precautions in place. We will have limited staff providing public education and migration interpretation at the Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve main overlook starting September 1st through October 31st (daily 9am-4pm). Read on to find out about migration updates and planning your visit! We are hoping for a safe and healthy season to celebrate the magnificent migration at Hawk Ridge with you!

Fall Count Highlights (August 15-29th, 2020)

 

The fall season started August 15th and migration is well underway. 83 species have been recorded with 11 of them been raptors. 34,000 individual birds complete the August count as of writing, with 1,454 being raptors. 

 

Of the raptors, BALD EAGLE (280) and BROAD-WINGED HAWK (743) have by far showed up in respectable numbers. The Broad-winged Hawk total is the highest since 1977.

 

Nevertheless, the number of NORTHERN HARRIER (39) and RED-TAILED HAWK (60) is not bad for August with the vast majority being immature birds making the maiden voyage south. Next, SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (243) and AMERICAN KESTREL (19) have started up well before the bulk of those that show up in September.

 

The weather has been mostly warm and very dry with little rain to speak of. We had 4 days of easterly winds with fog 19th-22nd, but then all those birds that were backed up came through in droves. Most notably was Tuesday 25th when Common Nighthawks came through all day and by the end of the day we had over 27,000! 

 

There has been the early movement of RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH and PURPLE FINCH, it remains to be seen if they continue in bigger numbers as the season continues. 

 

It looks to be another great season at Hawk Ridge already! We welcome back Nick Pusateri, Count Trainee from 2019, now as a Counter! We are excited for the staff that will be joining us.Their wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm about birds is sure to make it a great time for you to come up to the Ridge this fall and enjoy some of the best migration viewing North America has to offer!

 

Eyes to the skies everybody! 

-John Richardson, Fall Count Director

Fall Raptor Banding Update

A total of 127 raptors of 8 species have been banded through August 29th. Northern Harrier (4), Sharp-shinned Hawk (83), Northern Goshawk (2), Broad-winged Hawk (2), Red-tailed Hawk (6), American Kestrel (4), and Merlin (20). It's been a good start to the season thus far! We welcome back Abbie Valine, Banding Trainee from 2019 and longtime volunteer, now as a Bander! We're looking forward to the rest of the great banding crew joining us soon!

We are continuing two of our research projects again this fall in studying exposure to two contaminants, Polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) and methylmercury (Hg). These are bioaccumulative toxins, which cause reproductive failure in birds.

We are also happy to be working with four great master’s students at UMD on their raptor research (Lisa Broullette, Emily Pavlovic, Allie Pesano, and Hannah Toutonghi) - with Allie and Hannah being former Hawk Ridge Banding Trainees! Projects include:

·         -Red-tailed Hawk genetics

·         -Migration patterns of Sharp-shinned Hawks, Northern Saw-whet Owls, and Red-tailed Hawks using stable isotopes

·         -Prey composition of raptors during migration

·         -A study on Northern Hawk Owls

-Frank Nicoletti, Banding Director

P.S. The In-hand Guide to Diurnal North American Raptors authored by renowned raptor experts Jerry Liguori, Jesse Watson, Dave Oleyar, and Frank Nicoletti is available for purchase HERE. Hawk Ridge congratulates Frank and authors on this accomplishment!

Visitor Info for Viewing the Fall Bird Migration

We are excited for another fall bird migration season at Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory! We are in operation under new safety guidelines and limited staff. Visitors are still welcome to come out and enjoy the migration. We just ask for your compliance and understanding with safety measures in place for the health and well being of our staff and visitors (you included!). This will be especially important at our main overlook, which is our primary visitor viewing area. Guidelines may also change pending regulations mandated by local, state, federal authorities. If you are planning to visit, please read our guidelines on our Plan Your Visit page and they will also be posted at the Hawk Ridge main overlook.

VISIT US AT HAWK RIDGE NATURE RESERVE

9AM-4PM DAILY SEPT 1 - OCT. 31ST!

Visitors Guide

Directions

Lodging

Meet Our Fall 2020 Team

 

We have a wonderful team for fall of 2020 of both return and new. You can find out who's who HERE on our staff page. We are all excited to share in the migration with you whether in person or virtually!

Hawk Ridge Volunteer Program

We LOVE our volunteers and appreciate all they do. Hawk Ridge is fortunate to have so many amazing people devote time each fall and some throughout the year in helping with our research, education, and stewardship efforts. With our limitations in staff, programs, visitor services and needed safety guidelines in place, we are not able to have our regular volunteer program this fall. We hope that any of you that were planning or hoping to start volunteering with us this season, please reach out again next year. Current volunteers will receive further information from us, if we haven't already connected.

New Count Display

Last year we had a grant thanks to the Hawk Migration Association of N.A. to create a new count board and display. You may have already seen it featured on some of our Facebook posts. Thanks to the craftsmanship of Josh Yokel for building and volunteer help from David Carman and Ralph Larsen for installation!

 

* If you missed our previous newsletter, we've include it below for more information about our research, events, and other educational resources.

July 2020 Newsletter

We are working hard on our plans for the fall migration season and will continue to keep you updated through our e-news and website. A few volunteers and researchers are also actively working on research and stewardship projects at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve. We are clearing and maintaining trails and trying to keep the overlook free from invasive plant species.We are also completing our sixth year of participation in the Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship (MAPS) bird banding project, which is a nationwide cooperative research project. You can read more about the project below.

Soon, we will all transition to the fantastic fall bird migration season. Beginning around August 1, the fall passerine (songbird) banding project will begin. The fall raptor banding and bird migration count research plans to start August 15. On September 1, we are hoping and planning to have some safe level of public programming begin at the Ridge (pending on COVID-19 guidelines in Duluth and MN). Again, please stay tuned for more information and thank you for your continuing support!

Summer MAPS Bird Banding Project at Hawk Ridge

Instead of our usual fall projects assessing birds as they migrate south, the MAPS project is all about breeding birds. The early sessions assess which birds come back in the spring to Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve and which birds have moved in or out of the study area. This gives us an idea of survivorship. The last few sessions include many young birds which gives us an idea of productivity.

Together, all the data we collect is combined with data from other sites around our region including Sugarloaf: The North Shore Stewardship Association, Wolf Ridge ELC, and two sites near Isabella, MN, as well as data from other sites around the country. The combined data helps the research scientists who coordinate the study assess long term increases or declines in bird populations. Every summer, we are privileged to recapture many birds that return to the same breeding territories after long migrations sometimes as far away as South America.

Hawk Ridge Fall Bird Migration 2020 - What's Ahead?

As we look ahead to the fall migration season at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve, there is still much uncertainty. The good news is that birds will continue to migrate, even though the experience may be different for us. The health and safety of staff, volunteers, members, and visitors will remain our top priority. Due to COVID-19, one of the tough decisions we've made is to cancel our Hawk Weekend Festival (September 18-20). We hope to implement other special ways to continue to celebrate the migration that week virtually and/or perhaps in smaller groups. With Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve being an outdoor space, we plan for it to continue to be open this fall to view and learn about the migration. We  will keep you informed of what you’ll need to know about visiting via our e-news and website. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to connecting with you again soon! 

Keeping Safe While Visiting Hawk Ridge

We love our visitors, but as everyone is aware, these are exceptional times for the safety of everyone with COVID-19. We encourage visitors at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve (on road and trails) to stay safe and keep others safe by following physical and social distancing guidelines outdoors. The National Recreation and Park Association put together a statement HERE for safe use of parks and open spaces following guidelines set by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  

Charitable Giving Incentives

Under the the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) passed in March, there are increased tax incentives for charitable giving. If you itemize your taxes, the AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) limit for charitable cash contributions has increased from 60 percent to 100 percent deducted. IRA Qualified Charitable Distributions can also be applied. If you don't itemize your taxes, the CARES Act allows for an additional "above the line" deduction for up to $300 for cash gifts made to charities, like Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory. Donors should consult with their tax/legal advisor for questions on charitable giving incentives.

Upcoming Events

*Please stay tuned for fall program updates & changes due to COVID-19

Hawk Weekend Festival - September 18-20th, 2020 (CANCELED)

Unfortunately, the Hawk Weekend Festival is canceled for fall 2020. Due to COVID-19 health and safety concerns and having limited staff, we are unable to run the festival. We still plan to celebrate the migration that week and are looking at other ways to do that safely within our capacity.

Fall Bird Migration at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve - September 1 - October 31, 2020

We are planning on conducting our migration count and banding research, as well as having limited public education/interpretation. 

Become A Member Today!

If you're already a member of Hawk Ridge, we sincerely appreciate your support! THANK YOU! If you're not a member and have enjoyed your experience with Hawk Ridge, we invite you to renew or join as a Hawk Ridge member today! Our memberships and donations help drive our bird conservation research and education programs. You can check out our exciting membership benefits and join or renew online HERE!

 

2019 ANNUAL HIGHLIGHTS - Please click HERE to read and see how your support is helping us make a difference! Thank you!

Support Hawk Ridge by Shopping!

Purchase one of our unique artist-designed Hawk Ridge shirts or tote bags online. Two more simple ways to raise money for Hawk Ridge are by using 1) GoodShop and 2) Amazon Smile for your online shopping in support of Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory to receive proceeds.

Thanks again for your support!

Sincerely,

Janelle Long
Executive Director
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory
P.O. Box 3006
Duluth, MN 55803-3006
Call: 218-428-6209
Contact: mail@hawkridge.org
Visit: www.hawkridge.org

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