Hey birders, No rare birds to report, but I wanted to share our season totals with you. Our counters just turned in their data sheet from the day, thus completing our fall count (Aug 15-Dec 15). Raptor migration in the Minnesota River Valley at Mankato was pretty phenomenal this year. The Bethany Hawkwatch counts raptors migrating through two points in Mankato. One site is at Bethany Lutheran College on the eastern bluff; the other site is Land of Memories Park near the confluence of the Blue Earth and Minnesota Rivers. Raptors do not pass through both sites so there are no duplicates in our count. The last two years we have averaged about 4,330 birds so this year was a bit of a shock; we saw record numbers for all species but Peregrine Falcon. Turkey Vulture—1,810 Osprey—49 Bald Eagle—3,183 Northern Harrier—60 Sharp-shinned Hawk—792 Cooper’s Hawk—65 Northern Goshawk—2 Red-shouldered Hawk—4 Broad-winged Hawk—3,766 Swainson’s Hawk—14 Red-tailed Hawk—1,945 Rough-legged Hawk—45 Golden Eagle—1 American Kestrel—46 Merlin—33 Peregrine Falcon—21 Unidentified raptors—45 August—86 September—5,308 October—2,529 November—3,339 December—618 Season total—11,881 Bethany Lutheran College—5,916 birds of 15 species from 366 hours of observation Land of Memories Park—5,965 birds of 15 species from 435 hours of observation (better site for days with south winds of which we had many this fall) Happy birding! *Chad Heins* Assistant Professor of Biology Bethany Lutheran College 700 Luther Drive Mankato, MN 56001 Office: 507.344.7327 | Toll Free: 800.944.3066 [log in to unmask] www.blc.edu