2011 Raptor Research Foundation Conference

This past week found myself in Duluth, Minnesota along the shores of Lake Superior to attend the 2011 Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) Conference. Duluth is home to Hawk Ridge, one of the longest running and busiest hawkwatch sites in the country, and a sister site to Lucky Peak in Idaho. Hawk Ridge annually counts over 93,000 migrating raptors, making it a far busier flyway than Lucky Peak. Raptors generally do not migrate over large bodies of open water, so forest dwelling species from up north get funneled along the western coast of Lake Superior until they hit Hawk Ridge in massive numbers and can begin a more direct southerly migration. Hawk Ridge is most notable for its large annual number of Sharp-Shinned (12,500) and Broad-Winged Hawks (36,000) counted. Hawk migration sites such as Hawk Ridge and Lucky Peak are located all across the country and play an important role in long-term monitoring of raptor migration numbers,

While I was attending the RRF conference primarily to present some of my preliminary research findings from my Master’s thesis, I was also able to gain a better understanding of how Wild Lens can contribute to the scientific side of conservation. It is the hope of Wild Lens to be able to present our future research findings at such prestigious academic conferences as these. Educating the public also plays a very important role, but it is also key for us to help contribute to the collective body of scientific knowledge about potentially declining, understudied species. This can spur other researchers to begin studying these same species in other areas, and raise awareness within the academic sciences.

Neil Paprocki