We recently took a short trip to northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth was on our list of stops. Every year 20 different species of raptors and vultures migrate over the observatory numbering in the hundreds and even thousands as they pass along the Lake Superior lakeshore. The action peaks from mid-September to late October.
Unfortunately all was quiet when we visited, but just a week earlier, the observatory had a record-breaking day they will not soon forget. Counters recorded 91,667 birds in one day. Surprisingly, all of them were non-raptors. There were 33,758 warblers alone! Other large numbers included 28,054 Common Nighthawks, 12,842 Cedar Waxwings, and 1,085 Blue Jays.
Despite missing this epic event by mere days, I did get to experience a few interesting migration behaviors on a much smaller scale. Late last week while hiking at Devil’s Lake State Park, my family and I witnessed dozens of Turkey Vultures soaring on the thermals just above our heads near the North Shore. The birds are flocking together for migration.
And last weekend Horicon Marsh was alive with the sound of trumpeting—not from brass instruments but from the many Sandhill Cranes that were gathering in migrating flocks.
Sandhills are fun to watch. They look elegant flying across the sky, but when they land it’s a rather clunky affair. They let their legs loose to dangle and waver in the breeze as they circle around and around their target landing area. It almost looks like they are steering from an imaginary chair.
As a bonus I also got to see a sunning family of Wood Ducks:
And I had several close encounters with hungry Great Blue Herons:
