Today, 15 Sept, there was a new record high raptor count at Hawk Ridge in Duluth. As of 6:00 pm, over 100,000 raptors (over 99,000 of these Broad-winged Hawks) were counted by Tim Smart (the new Counter at Hawk Ridge), with assistance from Dave Carman, Frank Nicoletti, and others. Lew Oakland and Debbie Waters also assisted with keeping track of the hourly totals.
The previous one-day record at the Ridge was 49,615 on 18 Sept 1993, with 47,922 of these Broad-wingeds. Almost all of today's flight took place during the afternoon hours. The unofficial totals (a few more may have been counted after 6:00) were: T Vulture 33 Osprey 7 Bald Eagle 33 N Harrier 11 Sharp-shinned 445 Cooper's 2 N Goshawk 3 Broad-winged 99,677 Red-tailed 8 Am Kestrel 80 Merlin 4 Swainson's 1 Total 100,304
