A huge eagle flight came over Hawk Ridge today, including 488 Balds and 57 Goldens, the latter a new record for Minnesota, surpassing the 53 Goldens counted on 31 October 2008. Unlike the count in 2008 when I was barefoot, today’s eagles and other raptors were flying through snow squalls throughout the day. Also counted today were 81 Rough-legged Hawks (best flight of the season so far), 50 Red-tailed Hawks, 2 Sharp-shinned Hawks, and 5 Northern Goshawks. Most of the Golden Eagles (47) and all of the Rough-legs were adults, which has been typical of these two species this season, suggesting poor production of young. One of the adult Golden Eagles today was captured by Frank Nicoletti, outfitted with a satellite transmitter by Mark Martell, and released at the main overlook. This eagle flight follows a very lackluster early November and continues the theme of the fall: long periods of very poor migration punctuated by a few days with exceptional numbers. This has been especially true with the non-raptors. Although only 200,000 non-raptors have been counted this fall (down from 320,000 last year), there have been many high counts, especially among the finches. For example, today’s total of 309 Pine Grosbeaks is the best flight I have seen in six years of counting. Daily updates of the raptor and non-raptor migration at Hawk Ridge continue to be posted at www.hawkcount.org (which can be also accessed through www.hawkridge.org) through November 30th. Karl Bardon Hawk Ridge counter Duluth, MN
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