Hawk Weekend Festival Sept 17-19

Come and celebrate the fall bird migration with us! Hawk Weekend is the annual festival held by the Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth, MN. It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase one of North America’s best places to experience the fall bird migration at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve. There will be a variety of field trips, hikes, programs, and activities for all ages!

Festival wristbands ($5 daily) are available at Hawk Ridge Fri-Sun for hourly scheduled programs at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 

Friday, September 17th  

  • 9am-4pm: Bird Migration & Programs at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve (click HERE for public program schedule) 
  • 6:30-8:30pm (social/cash bar/tour aquarium 6:30, speaker 7:30pm): Join us for this NEW welcome social event with guest speaker at the Great Lakes Aquarium. Starting at 6:30pm, a cash bar will be available and the aquarium will be open to tour, including the featured Raptor Ridge Exhibit. Dr. Gerald Niemi will present at 7:30pm on his research “The Future of Boreal Birds in Minnesota”, which is included as part of the new book “Art on the Edge of the Boreal Forest”. Kathleen Franzen, MN artist and book project coordinator, will also be available that evening with artwork from MN artists included in the book, and books available for sale/signing. 
  • 9:30pm Evening Owl Program (max. 10 participants) 

Saturday, September 18th  

  • Early morning: Birding Field Trips (click HERE for field trip schedule & details) 
  • 9am-5pm: Bird Migration & Programs at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve (click HERE for public program schedule) 
  • 7pm: Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory Annual Meeting at University of Minnesota Duluth, room TBD (click HERE for parking map) 
  • 7:30pm: Evening program at University of Minnesota Duluth, room TBD (click HERE for parking map). Dr. Robert Rosenfield, Professor of Ecology at the Department of Biology, University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, will present “It takes a Kettle: why and what’s monitored by raptor researchers?” Birds and especially raptors are excellent indicators of environmental health and ecosystem integrity. Given the current loss of global biodiversity, the challenge of slowing its decline will likely require monitoring populations over vast spatial and time scales to target influencing factors regarding the health of bird communities. Hawk Ridge and its migrating birds of prey, along with other such raptor research sites, are on the front lines of such a challenge and Dr. Rosenfield will overview some exciting and revealing particulars! 
  • 9:30pm Evening Owl Program (max. 10 participants) 

Sunday, September 19th   

  • Early morning: Field Trips (click HERE for field trip schedule & details) 
  • 9am-4pm: Bird Migration & Programs at Hawk Ridge Nature Reserve (click HERE for public program schedule) 
  • 1pm: Post-Festival Workshop begins (max. 12 participants) 
  • 7pm: Evening Owl Program (max. 10 participants) 

Sun. Sept. 19th (starts 1pm) & Mon. Sept. 20th (ends 3:30pm) 

  • Post-festival workshop “The Science and Wonder of Bird Migration” (click HERE for more details). 

OTHER HELPFUL INFORMATION 

If you have not visited Hawk Ridge, we recommend you reading our Visitor’s Guide. 

Water, soda, and light snacks are available for purchase in our merchandise trailer. While we strive to have food trucks available at our event, we can’t guarantee lunch food for purchase. There are many restaurants within a 5-10 minute drive of Hawk Ridge.  

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