Hawk Ridge Hawk Watchers: Science + Entertainment for Children of All Ages, 1 to 100

Birds and bird watchers intersect on a hilltop.
It's an endless sequence of autumn flyovers.
Ravens
Broadies
Osprey
Sharpies
Kestrels
Golden Eagles
Bald Eagles
Hawks of every stripe.
"Cranes," he declares. "31 streaming thru that cloud that looks like a hand."
"I got 34," she replies.

* * * *

It's been too long since I'd been to Hawk Ridge here on Duluth's Skyline Drive. After the Phil Fitzpatrick/Penny Perry book launch a couple weeks back, I decided I'd better rectify this neglect. With an opening in my schedule and a semi-sunny day, I made a decision to make my way to Hawk Ridge.

Birds have been a fascination for generations, for centuries. Leonardo DaVinci studied them, seeking to understand the nature of flight. In college I did some paintings of birds, and loved trying to capture the feeling of birds in flight.

Pro sports teams feature quite a number of bird mascots. Cardinals, Falcons, Eagles, Ravens--we saw a raven today--Seahawks, Orioles, Blue Jays, Angels. (OK, angels have wings, but are probably not birds.)

I like to say Hawk Ridge is for the birds, but it's really for the birders. The birds are just doing their thing, the way they've always done, migrating south for the winter, returning in the spring. It's people who discovered the routes these creatures choose and in recent years strive to document their patterns.

In ancient times birds were omens. Today they really are an oracle of sorts, helping reveal the health of our environment.

My opening notes at the top of this post were from yesterday afternoon. It was fun to see the cranes come into view through the cloud, which brought to mind the poem from Phil Fitzpatrick's Hawks On High, titled Flying Ichabods, a clever word play off Washington Irvings's central character in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Flying Ichabods
One day I heard the flying Ichabods
Better known as Sandhill Cranes
Long necks in front and longer legs behind
Squawking their way to midwestern plains

You can read the full poem in Phil's book, Hawks On High, available locally at Zenith Books and Hawk Ridge.

Here's my own poetic verse in response to a moment in which a young harrier flew by, shimmering in the sun. I asked how they knew it was a harrier youth.

The Harrier Family
Cinnamon on breast, juveniles.
Adult females, brown.
Silvery white underneath, black tips,
that's a dad.

Grey hair, looking skyward,
squinting through binoculars.
That's me.

* * * *
I'm told there are hundreds of such sites around the country where birders gather, keep tabs on migration activities and bird counts. Even if you know nothing, they make you feel welcome. And if you're here in the Twin Ports, Hawk Ridge is a gift you ought to get to know.

FWIW DEPT.
While vacationing in the Black Hills I used my AAA travel book to locate the most scenic of its scenic hiaghways. AAA ranks all the highways in the country with a 1, 2, 3 etc. according to its degree of wonder. Among the list of #1 top highways and byways was our Skyline Drive here in Duluth. Dig it.