Hawk Ridge Festival (Duluth: activity, areas, place)

[demtion35]

Come see the bird migration



Hawk Weekend Festival : Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

[Ghengis]

The Hawk Weekend was last month (Sept 15 & 17) but it is a very cool event and well worth the brief detour up on the hill if for nothing else but the great view. For a modest donation, they brought us down to the blinds and netting areas on the backside of the hill where we watched them catch and band the birds before releasing them. They even let Mrs G release one of the Northern Harriers back up at the observatory area afterwards...



the geography around Duluth offers close access to one of the most unique flyways in North America that the raptors use. Their count for this fall alone stands at a little more than 47,000 birds to this point and more than 500 a day just for the first 5 days in October. Mid-October is prime for viewing the big raptors like vultures, eagles and red-tails, so there's still plenty of time to get up there and seen this free activity that is unique to our area.

[mn shutterbug]

Timing is everything. I've been there twice and I could count all the raptors I saw on 1 hand. It all has to do with the wind direction and velocity. Good luck to anyone that goes.