Dear Hawk Ridge Friends,
Happy Fall Bird Migration! We are having a great start to the fall bird migration research & education at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve! Over 74,000 birds of approx. 120 species have been counted so far since August 15th (including nearly 5,000 raptors of 14 species)! Check out the Aug. count & banding summaries below. As of September 1st, our education and visitor services staff and volunteers are at the main overlook at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve between 9am-4pm (rain/fog pending)! We invite you to come visit our knowledgeable, friendly team at the Ridge this fall (meet the staff HERE)!
P.S. Find out more below on events and programs, such as our evening owl programs, the next international birding trip to Mexico, and more! If you missed our last e-newsletter, you can view that and older versions by clicking HERE.
August 2025 Bird Migration Count Summary
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory began its 2025 fall count on Aug 15th. Counts were conducted every day until the end of the month, for a total of 161.93 hours. August weather can vary from scorching hot to surprisingly cold or rainy, and we seemed to experience everything in between this year. The most notable weather pattern was two strong cold fronts that generated cool temperatures and strong NW winds, unusual for this time of year!
August Raptor Highlights:
1,674 raptors were counted during the month of August. This is above the long-term average, and we enjoyed a particularly good few weeks for Bald Eagle and Broad-winged Hawk migration.
The highs:
967 Bald Eagles is a new high count for the month at Hawk Ridge! - 34 Turkey Vultures is nearly triple the month average, likely due to the several days of NW winds.
- Northern Harrier, Broad-winged Hawk and Merlin were all recorded in above average numbers.
Osprey counts were about half of what we might expect, with only 15 in August. - Sharp-shinned Hawks were notably absent. 45 Sharpies flew by the ridge, well below the long-term average of 380! This pattern will be something to pay close attention to in coming years.
- Red-tailed Hawk (27) and American Kestrel (46) were slightly lower than average.
Non-raptor Highlights:
27,576 non-raptors flew by Hawk Ridge this past month, including several thousand dragonflies and butterflies! The star of the show this month was the Common Nighthawk. Duluth reigns as the best place in the world to watch flights of these goatsuckers, and this season did not disappoint! A mind-boggling 17,870 Common Nighthawks were counted at the Ridge on August 22nd, one of the largest daytime flights to occur here.
Aside from nighthawks, we observed several mornings with excellent warbler flight. Most numerous identified warblers included Nashville (288), Tennessee (409), American Redstart (151) and Cape May Warblers (99). It seems to be a decent year for Cape Mays, likely due to a spruce budworm outbreak. In total, 2,626 warblers were counted in active migration! The two species showing unusually high numbers this season are Red-breasted Nuthatches (124) and Common Ravens (89). Nuthatches have been counted moving en masse across the Great Lakes, but the raven movement appears to be limited to western Lake Superior thus far. Stay tuned for more breaking irruption news soon!
Thanks to all who visited this past month and helped spot birds! With the season ahead of us, optimism is high, and we hope to see you at the Ridge soon! Be sure to follow along with the live count on Trektellen HERE and raptor count on HawkCount HERE.
Sean McLaughlin
Lead Counter
August 2025 Banding Summary
August Raptor Banding Totals:
Raptor banding at the Hawk Ridge station occurred every day from August 15th through the 31st, for a total of 17 days. A total of 17 raptors were banded at the station during August, just barely above our record low of 12 in 2023. The Moose Valley station was covered August 30th and 31st, with 1 American Kestrel banded.
Total raptors banded in August were as follows:
Sharp-shinned Hawk – 4
Cooper’s Hawk – 2
American Kestrel - 1
Merlin – 3
Northern Harrier – 4
Red-tailed Hawk – 4
Total: 18
Despite the low August banding numbers, we were able to deploy a GPS cellular transmitter on an adult male Northern Harrier for the migratory connectivity project funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund as recommended by the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR).
Senior Research Associate Frank Nicoletti and Lead Raptor Bander Tim Baerwald ran the Hawk Ridge station in August until the arrival of this year’s seasonal banding staff, which includes several familiar faces. Sarah Needles (2023 Trainee and 2024 Banding Apprentice), returned this year as Raptor Bander at the Moose Valley station. This year’s Banding Apprentices are Kaia Hilgendorf-Roost and June Yost (a 2024 Trainee), who will spend the season learning the intricacies of trapping and banding both diurnal raptors and owls.
The seasonal banding crew and Research Director, Emily Pavlovic, made a special trip down to The Raptor Center at the end of August to learn sampling techniques for the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza surveillance that is continuing this fall. Everyone had fun and learned new techniques that we have been practicing since then!
Owl banding starts on September 15th and we welcome Maya Vernick as our Owl Bander for the season. More updates coming soon!
August Passerine Banding Highlights:
Passerine banding continues to be led by Margie Menzies & David Alexander with a crew of amazing volunteers. Fall passerine banding started at the beginning of August and runs through mid-October. August was a relatively cool and wet month for Hawk Ridge passerine banding. We did manage to band 672 passerines of 39 species from August 2-31, 2025. Our busiest day was August 22 when we banded 64 birds of 16 species. We banded 19 species of warbler in August, with 124 American Redstarts being the most numerous warbler and also the most numerous bird banded. Other commonly banded birds were Veery (43), Swainson’s Thrush (55), White-Throated Sparrow (48), Ovenbird (42), Tennessee Warbler (41), and Nashville Warbler (40). On August 19th, we banded only our second Olive-Sided Flycatcher since 2010. We finally banded our first Northern Cardinal on August 12th; we have been seeing Cardinals nearer the lake in the city for years, but this was our first to be banded on the Ridge.
Just like all our banding numbers, you can keep track of what we’ve been banding by visiting Trektellen - Hawk Ridge Passerine Banding and Hawk Ridge Raptor Banding. Thanks for your support!
Emily Pavlovic
Research Director
Summer Education Summary
Summer always seems to fly by way too fast, and that was certainly the case this summer! One of the big events of the beginning of the summer was welcoming Alder Nichols our new Lead Naturalist! With a full summer of programming that is continuing to grow, we promptly put them to work. Over the summer there were more than 50 programs with over a thousand participants.
A variety of programs stretched across the summer! We started with a great 5-day Master Naturalist class at North House Folk School and other audiences included summer camp groups, area recreational groups, summer school students, service groups, and even a few US Navy sailors! We also took advantage of the summer breeding season and included the wonders and science of bird banding with more than 16 programs. Bird banding provides an incredible educational opportunity to explore the wonders of the birds that call this area home during their nesting season. Several community outreach events were also included in the summer adventures, including the Loon Fair in Cross Lake, the 25th Anniversary Celebration at Great Lakes Aquarium, and the fourth year of the partnership event series — Everyone Can Bird. And culminating the summer was a Hawk Ridge International Birding Trip to Tanzania, exploring another continent across the world! The Lilac-breasted Roller in the photo was a beauty and favorite of many!
In addition, training for the fall education staff kicked off the last week in August. A wonderful mix of returning and new staff will be the friendly faces you see at the main overlook this fall (check out the Meet the Staff page)! Public education programs run every Saturday and Sunday at Hawk Ridge (check out the program schedule HERE!) If you're interested in scheduling a private program for a group (school, homeschool, other), please contact me at mmenzies@hawkridge.org or go to the Education Programs tab on our website for more info. We look forward to connecting with you this fall!
Margie Menzies
Education Director
UPCOMING EVENTS
Come and celebrate the amazing fall bird migration with us! Hawk Weekend is the annual festival held by Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, MN. Bird migration research and education programs have been shared with visitors throughout the world each fall at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve for over 50 years! Join us for a fun weekend with a variety of birding field trips, nature hikes, programs, and activities for all ages! Click HERE for schedule! 
*NOTE: The majority of our pre-registered field trips, evening owl programs, workshops are FULL and closed. If you'd like to get on a waiting list, please email jlong@hawkridge.org. Click HERE for registration and schedule info (registration closes Monday, September 15th). Visitors are still welcome to Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve during the festival weekend. Please check out our Fall Visitor's Guide (expect heavy crowds and traffic, as it's our busiest weekend of the year).
October 11th, 2025 @ Hawk Ridge!
Plan Your Fall Visit to Hawk Ridge
September 1st - October 31st, 2025
Daily 9am-4pm
2025 marks the 54th consecutive fall season of bird migration research and education at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve in Duluth, MN - one of the premier fall bird migration sites in North America! We look forward to connecting with visitors of all ages from around the world! Here are some helpful links with information on visiting this fall:
PLAN YOUR VISIT
DIRECTIONS
LODGING
Whoo doesn’t like owls? From large to small, seasonal travelers, and hardy residents, Minnesota hosts a fascinating diversity of owls, with some crazy habits, and some hauntingly beautiful sounds in the night. Join us this fall to learn about the Hawk Ridge owl banding research through one of our public evening owl programs or schedule a small group owl program. Click HERE for more info.
Saturday evening public programs:
October 4th & Oct. 18th at 8pm
Tickets limited; $10 member/student or $15 nonmember
Small group owl programs (up to 8): offered Sept. 23-Oct. 31 (Tues. or Thurs-Sat. evenings) with date/time to be arranged by sending an email to owls@hawkridge.org. $40 member/student or $50 nonmember.
International Birding Tour
Birding the Ruins of the Yucatan
February 11-21, 2026
Explore a fun mix of birding and historical Mayan Ruins. These jungle archeological reserves in addition to having been critical to the Mayans are also great locations for the rainbow array of birds that inhabit the Yucatan. We will hunt for endemic species on the peninsula's North Coast, take boat rides on Bacalar Lagoon and Celestun River, and keep our eyes on the skies for fantastic soaring raptors, and much more.
Optional Extension- Birds and Monarchs February 21-25, 2026 Travel on from the Yucatan to the higher elevations of the Central Mexico and Mexico City region. We'll travel to the Angangueo area, and visit El Rosario, the largest Monarch butterfly overwintering site, and enjoying the birds along with the butterflies at the mountain top, and all the way up and back down the mountain! We will also enjoy Agua Blanca, and other birding hotspots in the area.
Click on this link for an Overview, Itinerary, Pricing, Travel Information, How to Enroll and Resources. *Please note space is limited and deadline to register in full is November 8, 2025. This trip requires a minimum of 10 participants. Make a trip deposit to reserve a spot on the trip, but wait to make airline reservations and pay the full trip amount until you receive notice that the trip has reached its minimum enrollment. For more information or questions, please contact Debbie Jordan at debbie@holbrooktravel.com or 866-748-6146 or Hawk Ridge Education Director, Margie Menzies at mmenzies@hawkridge.org.
Other News
Hawk Ridge is Seeking Board Members!
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory (HRBO) is seeking motivated and creative volunteers to join our Board of Directors. Qualified individuals will serve as ambassadors of our mission to promote conservation of raptors and other birds in the Western Lake Superior Region through research, education, and stewardship. We are looking for mission-aligned individuals, particularly those with interest or experience in fundraising, public relations, event planning, and/or marketing activities.
To apply please click HERE. You can also find more info about the board position HERE at hawkridge.org or under About Us-Board. Applications accepted until filled.
SAVE THE DATE!
Raptor Research Foundation Conference
October 26-30, 2026
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory is excited to announce we are hosting the international Raptor Research Foundation Conference next year! The conference will be held October 26-30, 2026 at the Holiday Inn Downtown Duluth. This year's 2025 conference is being held this fall in Costa Rica. We look forward to sharing more information with you later this fall/winter! Find out more about the Raptor Research Foundation go to: raptorresearchfoundation.org.
Thank You for Your Support!
Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory thanks all of our supporters. We appreciate you! As a nonprofit organization, we are primarily funded by individual gifts to put our bird migration research and education programs in action. Below are some of the ways you can help us keep sharing the magic of the bird migration!
Support Hawk Ridge by Shopping!
Be sure to check out our merchandise trailer at Hawk Ridge daily Sept. 1 - Oct. 31 9am-4pm (weather pending). We have 2 new Hawk Ridge shirts this fall with featured artists! New this year is the beautiful Golden Eagle by Kiley Busko! Kiley is a watercolor artist focusing on painting birds and other wildlife. She is from Minnesota and has her art at multiple galleries and shops throughout the Midwest. You can check out more of her artwork at paintedwing.com
Big Frog (direct ship or pick up at Duluth store)
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!
Simply Donate
You can always simply donate online by clicking HERE or by mailing a check made out to Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, P.O. Box 3006, Duluth, MN 55803.
Thank you again for your wonderful gift of support! Hope to connect with you this fall at Hawk Ridge or feel free to reach out by email or phone!
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
501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization
Federal Tax ID 76-0746366
