Volunteer Opportunities

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory is looking for volunteers!

This is your opportunity to be a part of
a research and education team, bringing the magic
of the fall raptor migration to the public.

volunteer@hawkridge.org for more information

WHO IS ELIGIBLE?

Anyone who shares a passion for birds and has the desire to help, learn & have fun! Absolutely no experience is necessary. We will train and teach you, and provide ample opportunities for you to pursue your passion, whether it be birds, sales, public relations, or teaching!

1. PEREGRINE WATCH (June - mid-July)

Peregrine Watch is a fun, exciting monitoring and education program that takes place in downtown Duluth in the early summer. We set up our telescopes and monitoring equipment in Lake Place Park daily to watch and teach about a family of Peregrine Falcons as they raise their babies in a nest box atop a downtown building. We watch the babies grow up and learn to fly over downtown; observing the behaviors of the parents as they feed babies, hunt, defend territory and coach their kids into flight.

Peregrine Watch volunteers help in many different ways... tending the watch site and helping to interpret the activities of the birds for our visitors and passers by; scouring the downtown area to locate the birds when they're not readily visible; setting up and taking down the equipment and supplies for our daily monitoring; running errands and administrative support when naturalists are working the watch site. If I get a good response to this appeal for Peregrine Watch volunteers, we'll have a separate training session for PW volunteers.

2. FALL MIGRATION AT THE OVERLOOK (September/October)

Each fall, Hawk Ridge sees thousands of migrating raptors passing by as they make their way to their wintering grounds south of us. We also get thousands of visitors stopping at the Main Overlook at Hawk Ridge to witness the phenomenon.

Overlook volunteers perform a multitude of tasks!! You might greet visitors, sell merchandise, point out birds to visitors (we'll teach you how to tell them apart... it's easy to learn), update written visitor information, count and/or survey visitors, carry birds from our research station to the education site, etc... the list goes on and on, so I'll stop with this glimpse into how we utilize our volunteers in the fall. We'll give you all of the info you'll need to be a competent, successful volunteer before you start, so don't let your unfamiliarity keep you from considering the fall migration as your outlet for volunteer activities!

3. OFFICE ASSISTANT (ongoing, year-round)

Our Executive Director, Janelle Long, has more office work to do than she has hours in which to do it all! We need helpers who will commit to regular hours in the office with Janelle. You don't necessarily have to come for full days, or on a weekly basis... if you could offer an afternoon a week/every other week/or a day a month, we'll gladly accept your help!! The key to this position is consistency. We want people who will return on a regular basis and get familiar with our systems and expectations so our training time is well spent.

Office assistant volunteers are the hands and feet of the organization! You'll be preparing mailings (folding, stuffing, sealing, posting envelopes), entering information into our database, running errands, doing basic internet research, opening and sorting mail, etc... again, this list can go on and on! Office assistant volunteers should be comfortable on a computer, but we will teach you everything you need to know to be successful.

4. FUNDRAISING/MARKETING/DESIGN (ongoing, year-round)

Do you have experience in marketing, PR or graphic design? How 'bout fundraising, grant-writing or other financial solicitation? We need fresh new people to sit on our committees and help out in these areas.

Does volunteering with Hawk Ridge sound exciting?? It is!