At 13:45 this afternoon, a Mississippi Kite flew over Hawk Ridge, Duluth. This bird appeared to be an adult, but it was extremely high as it came directly over the hawk platform, where it was viewed by Cameron Rutt, Andrew Longtin, Aldo Raul Contreras Reyes, and myself. It really was a perfect kite day today- thousands of dragonflies in the air, a good flight of falcons (over 100), and persistent south to southwest winds during the last week... so I really wasn't suprised when Cameron spotted this bird. It even appeared to catch a dragonfly when high overhead. Although Casual in Minnesota, this has become an expected rarity over Hawk Ridge during a surprisingly narrow window- all eleven Hawk Ridge records fall between 30 August and 15 September. Furthermore, in both 2004 and 2008 there were multiple birds at Hawk Ridge during the same season, suggesting they may come in bunches- and also suggesting the strong possiblity of another bird at Hawk Ridge in the next week or so. The morning non-raptor flight over Hawk Ridge was again impressive, reinforcing this as an incredible year for migration with tens of thousands of birds already moving through- today's tally was 7088 non-raptors, which represents a composite between the shore and the ridge. Species and numbers seen include 11 Canada Geese, 4 Common Loons, 47 American White Pelicans (one flock), 31 Double-crested Cormorants, 1 Great Blue Heron, 1 Lesser Yellowlegs (landed on the rocks at the hawk platform!), 10 Common Nighthawks, 4 Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, 2 Olive-sided Flycatchers, 23 Easternn Kingbirds, 1827 Blue Jays, 12 Common Ravens, 2 Tree Swallows, 33 Cliff Swallows, 9 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, 44 American Robins, 1690 Cedar Waxwings, 1543 warblers, 45 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, 1222 Red-winged Blackbirds, 248 Common Grackles, 2 Baltimore Orioles, 58 Purple Finches, and 59 American Goldfinches After three seasons of counting non-raptors solely from Hawk Ridge (and struggling to count thousands of birds along the shore of Lake Superior a mile from the Ridge!), this year we have two observers counting non-raptors, one on the shore (stationed at the Lester River apartment building), and one at Hawk Ridge, which is already giving new insights into the extent of migration through Duluth. Daily count totals of raptor and non-raptors can be viewed at www.hawkcount.org, and further information about visiting Hawk Ridge can be found at www.hawkridge.org. Karl Bardon and Cameron Rutt Hawk Ridge counters
---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
