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
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