Honoring HMANA's past Board Chairman

Iain MacLeod, Executive Director of Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness, NH has been honored recently for his extensive contributions to HMANA. Iain had been HMANA's Board Chairman for the last three years and was replaced by Gil Randall in December, 2009.

Since Iain was not present to accept his awards at HMANA's conference in Duluth, MN last month, he recently was presented with a HMANA appreciation award and a gift from the Board of Directors for his service. The gift was a beautiful painting of Pandion haliaetus by David Hughes, a wildlife artist from Pennsylvania.

Iain has given greatly to HMANA and to the raptor conservation field. Some of the outstanding contributions he has made include the groundbreaking work in the Raptor Population Index Project, as well as his guidance and contributions to the Hawk Migration Studies journal. The HMANA board and staff are grateful for his keen leadership and dedication to the organization.

Thank you Iain!

Celebrating Raptor Migration

In case you didn’t get your raptor conference fix from HMANA’s recent Soaring Above Superior conference in Duluth MN, Audubon Greenwich offered another opportunity this past weekend. On Saturday, May 8, 2010, Audubon hosted a conference called “Monitoring and Managing Raptor Populations” which took place at the Audubon Greenwich Nature Center in CT, home of the Quaker Ridge fall hawkwatch site.

The event was a celebration of International Migratory Bird Day and truly honored this year’s theme, “Conserving Birds by Connecting People”. With representatives from across the hemisphere, it was a collaborative conference to identify raptor management priorities and opportunities to engage citizen scientists in these strategies.

HMANA was happy to support this conference as a sponsor and to contribute to the day’s events with a panel discussion on hawkwatch practices and protocols.
Among the participants were representatives from Pronatura Veracruz, Mexico, Bird Life International- Paraguay, Panama Audubon Society, National Audubon Society - International Alliances Program, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Audubon Vermont, and the Audubon Center in Sharon.

More highlights to come.....

The Duluth HMANA Conference: Part 2

Usually I debate the real benefits going to almost any conference, professional or personal. The recent HMANA conference in Duluth was no exception. I wanted to do all the field trips and attend all the papers, but the schedule made that impossible. Fortunately, I decided to go, and ultimately I was very happy with my decisions, though I regretted missing several excellent presentations. (Funny what seeing a Great Gray and two Northern Hawk Owls can do.)

I heard some fascinating presentations at Duluth, several of which were on what we are learning through satellite tracking. Tracking studies have provided dramatic new insights into the incredible migration of shorebirds, such as Whimbrel and Bar-tailed Godwit, and this holds true for raptors as well. Two papers focused on satellite tracking of Bald and Golden Eagles that winter in the Upper Mississippi Valley. One paper revealed impressive variability in Bald Eagle migration and in their summer and winter ranges. I was also surprised to learn about the impressive number of Golden Eagles that winter in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin in habitat that I wouldn’t expect them to occur, and what these “winter Minnesotans” do on their spring migration. There is a lot of exciting field research in progress, and we at the conference were fortunate to hear these presentations well before journal articles by the researchers will be published.

Actively discussing this subject with several people at the conference, another benefit, I was reminded of a classic work, Sparrowhawk, by Ian Newton, which clearly shows that in one species, at least, breeding behavior and success for the average adult Sparrowhawk is not what you might expect. This monograph is a must read for serious students of hawks. Newton’s Population Ecology of Raptors is another “must read.” Finally, I would recommend Newton’s Migration Ecology of Birds, published in 2008. At 976 pages, you might need until the next HMANA conference to complete it, but it is the best, most thorough, single book on bird migration I’ve ever read. If you want to better understand bird migration, or just what we know about hawk migration, you should read Migration Ecology, a book jam packed with information and rich insights into bird migration. If I had one book on birds to take to a desert island where I would be stranded for the rest of my life, this would be it. (Note that Newton was the keynote speaker at the previous HMANA Conference at Hawk Mountain in 2007!)

When the next HMANA Conference is held, wherever that might be (probably in 2013), I’ll debate forking out the money and the time, and will decide to go. As has happened every time I have gone, I will be very glad that I did. I should note that HMANA volunteers and the staff and volunteers of Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory in Duluth put on an absolutely first-rate conference. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it such a great event.

 
(Bald Eagle Photo by Robert Augart)

Duluth HMANA Conference Field Trip

I’ve been to most HMANA conferences over the past 30 years. Sometimes I debate myself over the time and financial costs, and afterwards, I am always very glad I went. I first birded in Texas in 1992 as part of the Corpus Christi conference. I had such a great time – I’ll never forget my first Caracara, my first Great Kiskadee, and my first White-tailed Hawk – that I have made at least 18 subsequent birding trips to Texas. I first visited Utah on a fantastic conference at Snowbird. I got a lot of life birds, but was so impressed by Utah’s beauty I have been back a dozen times. And of course, the presentations were fantastic at the conferences at well. With the great presentations at the Duluth conference, I learned a lot because most of the material was as yet unpublished.

One of the highlights of the Duluth conference was the Friday morning field trip to Sax-Zim bog, about a half hour’s drive from Duluth, famous for its boreal species highlighted by occasional spectacular winter invasions of Great Gray Owls and Hawk Owls.

Starting out at dawn in a very comfortable small bus, we all had high hopes but realistic expectations. The trip the day before had seen relatively little in very strong, gusty winds. We were shocked when about 30 seconds off the highway, we suddenly stopped, backed up, and found ourselves looking at a Great Gray Owl perched at eye level on the edge of the dirt road, as though it were sitting next to us on the bus. We were able to back up further and get out without disturbing the owl. The trip was already a fantastic success, because no one, including our superb guides, expected Great Gray this late.

We continued on. Our second special bird was a Northern Hawk Owl, perched on a sign along the road. It dropped down to hunt several times and carried prey back to what we assumed to be its nest while Sandhill Cranes called loudly and flew around the clearing in the woods. It was barely 7 a.m and we already had a fantastic trip, with lifer birds for many of the 12 people on the bus. Shortly thereafter we had a second hawk Owl, even closer, and which flew right over us, low.

There were other birds as well, about a half dozen Black-billed Magpies, Sharp-tailed Grouse displaying on a lek, about a half dozen male Northern Harriers, winnowing Wilson’s Snipe displaying overhead, lots of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckers, and at least a half dozen Bald Eagles close, and a number of ducks. We stopped at two sets of feeders isolated in the bog, but known to produce Boreal Chickadee on occasion. We had to be satisfied with Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Pine Siskin, and a gorgeous male Purple Finch. We had 50 species in an unforgettable field trip and conference.

(Photographs by David Brandes)

We wish you had been there!

What a great time! A huge amount of appreciation goes to the Hawk Ridge Observatory gang for all the work that went into hosting the event. The presentations were excellent, the field excursions awesome, and the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones all contributed to another successful HMANA conference.

The only thing we could have wished for was that you were there to share in the experience!

Look for an upcoming blog on field trips. And check out HMANA makes news .

Our keynote speaker following Saturday’s banquet was Dr. David Mech, Senior Research Scientist, USGS. You may have read some of his accounts over the years in National Geographic and other publications. He shared with us highlights of his 50+ year career as one of the world’s top wolf researchers. Why a program on wolves? You may wonder. Along with hawks and eagles, wolves are at the top of the food chain. Many of their prey are the same, and cycles which affect one tend to affect the other. Mech showed us some stunning photos and video clips. One such clip showing a connection between Golden Eagles and wolves was extracted from this excellent film . We're certain you'll say "Wow!" as we all did that night in Duluth.

Above: David Mech (Vic Berardi photo); Top: timber wolf track (S.Fogleman photo)

HMANA’s Duluth conference an international event; Iceland volcano presents problem for Congolese scientists

What could a volcano in Iceland and visitors from Africa possibly have in common with the HMANA conference in Duluth? This was a situation that conference organizer Julie O’Connor could never have anticipated. Shortly before the conference began, she received registrations from two scientists in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Not long after their arrival in Duluth, the eruption in Iceland had begun spewing a huge ash cloud which shut down air travel throughout Europe. At the end of the conference Bandele Fidele Egalenzibo and Luhilu Mukwalemba Bienvenue were scheduled to make flight connections in Brussels on their way home from Duluth.

Despite language problems (Julie doesn’t speak French, the language of the DRC, and our distinguished visitors speak very little English) O’Connor devoted a huge amount of time over the next few days working phone and internet in an attempt to find a solution to the travel dilemma presented. On Saturday evening we learned that she had helped them connect with a friend at UMichigan who would arrange a flight to Kinshasa-Gombe. She and one of the Hawk Ridge volunteers saw them off on a bus to Ann Arbor. Bon voyage, amis!

in photo, L to R: Fidele Egalenzibo, senior scientist, Ministry of the Environment, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Aldo Contreras Reyes, Chavarillo Veracruz, Mexico; Jean-Pierre Savard, Environment Canada; Luhilu Mukwalemba Bienvenue, Ministry of the Environment, DRC; David Hussell, Environment Canada; Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, Xalapa, MX and currently teaching at Dartmouth College in NH

HMANA Conference continues..

Friday at the HMANA conference was a grand success! Participants enjoyed a full day of different field trips and a host of scientific and non-scientific presentations. Some of the talks included: Raptor Migration by Computer-Using Modeling and Satellite Tracking Data to Fill in the Gaps by David Brandes, Migratory Route of a Golden Ealge bwtween Southwestern Wisconsin and Norhtern Canada by Mark Martell, and Precious Little Jewels- Teaching Children about Raptors by Janice Sweet.

After a wonderful dinner, we had the honor of listening to Dr Scott Lanyon, professor and head Dept. of Ecology, Evolution, and behavior at the University of Minnesota. He gave an excellent presenation entitled: Insights from the Avian Tree if Life: Raptor Stories. He explained how scientists discover the evolutionary relationships of modern species and how are changing understanding of these relationships leads to changes in in raptor classification. It was one of the top highlights of the conference.

Photos:

Janelle Long - Executive Director -Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and Conference Coordinator Julie O' Connor

Laurie Goodrich - Hawk Mountain Sanctuary and David Hussell - HMANA advisor

Ernesto Ruelas -RPI Project Manager and Aldo Reyes - Veracruz River of Raptors Hawkwatch