A huge eagle flight came over Hawk Ridge today, including
488 Balds and 57 Goldens, the latter a new record for Minnesota, surpassing the
53 Goldens counted on 31 October 2008. Unlike the count in 2008 when I was
barefoot, today’s eagles and other raptors were flying through snow squalls
throughout the day. Also counted today were 81 Rough-legged Hawks (best flight
of the season so far), 50 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and 5
Northern Goshawks. Most of the Golden Eagles (47) and all of the Rough-legs
were adults, which has been typical of these two species this season,
suggesting poor production of young. One of the adult Golden Eagles today was
captured by Frank Nicoletti, outfitted with a satellite transmitter by Mark
Martell, and released at the main overlook.
 
This eagle flight follows a very lackluster early November
and continues the theme of the fall: long periods of very poor migration
punctuated by a few days with exceptional numbers. This has been especially
true with the non-raptors. Although only 200,000 non-raptors have been counted
this fall (down from 320,000 last year), there have been many high counts,
especially among the finches.  For
example, today’s total of 309 Pine Grosbeaks is the best flight I have seen in
six years of counting.  Daily updates of
the raptor and non-raptor migration at Hawk Ridge continue to be posted at www.hawkcount.org (which can be also
accessed through www.hawkridge.org)
through November 30th.
 
Karl Bardon
Hawk Ridge counter
Duluth, MN

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