Late season raptors like Golden Eagles and Rough-legged Hawks will be of interest to conference participants at Hawk Ridge, but anyone, anywhere can join the activities virtually to monitor presentations, featured speakers, and panel discussions (photos by Paul Konrad).

Raptor enthusiasts from across the continent will convene in Duluth, Minnesota to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) November 7 to 10th. Fifty years ago, HMANA was the first organization to create standard protocols for long-term hawk migration counts that have effectively been used at more than 200 fall and spring raptor count sites across the Americas. Information collected daily, sometimes in real time, is centralized in HMANA’s database at HawkCount.org – the largest raptor migration monitoring project in the world.

Birders interested in birds of prey, hawkwatchers, and raptor biologists will join together in Duluth, at a centrally located raptor counting hotspot – Hawk Ridge. Presentations celebrating the past 50 years of raptor migration studies, including the people, places, and birds of prey will be shared while looking to the future, the next 50 years. But anyone, anywhere can join the activities virtually during this momentous conference that includes programs, featured speakers, and field trips.

Tracking trends in North American raptor populations have never been better, thanks to thousands of hawkwatchers and HMANA’s steadfast, inspiring leadership. But perhaps just as important is how hawkwatch sites across the Americas is that they are connecting people to birds of prey and the conservation of these valuable birds.

A new education initiative with schools is being piloted in Michigan and will be shared by teachers attending the HMANA 50th conference as an exciting new step to engage young people in birds, especially birds of prey. If you have ever witnessed the enthusiasm of newcomers seeing an eagle gliding overhead for the first time, you know the special connections to birds that hawkwatch sites help to provide.

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, Minnesota, has monitored the migration of birds of prey for more than 50 years. Its location is central to HMANA hawkwatch sites across the Americas and is well-known for its late fall hawk and eagle flights. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit the Hawk Ridge outdoor observation point daily and take birding trips to unique birding hotspots nearby, such as the Sax-Zim Bog and the North Shore of Lake Superior.

Raptor enthusiasts from across the continent are expected to attend the conference, along with professionals and volunteers from hawkwatches, to celebrate HMANA and to view the remarkable spectacle of raptor migration at the renowned Hawk Ridge count site. To learn more about this exciting conference, programs, and associated birding trips, you can refer to 50th Conference – HMANA

If you in person, you can listen to the presentations throughout the day a Virtually on Saturday, Novevmber 9th (8am to 9pm CT). Join in on Zoom to listen to a variety of raptor research programs, Winter Raptor and Education symposiums, a panel discussion, and a keynote presentation by Ernesto Ruelas (8am-9pm CT).

You can also check in to HMANA’s website anytime to see the numbers of raptors being identified and counted daily at hawkwatch sites from Canada to Colombia at HawkCount

To learn more about the activities of the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, which conducts the raptor counts at Hawk Ridge along with counts of all birds seen from this prominent location overlooking Lake Superior, see Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory The impressive fall migrations at Duluth are created by the fact that most birds migrating south from Canadian forests and tundra don’t want to fly over the expansive lake, so they follow the north shore woodlands that funnel ever-growing numbers of migrants south to Hawk Ridge – a true migration hotspot for birders!