Tag Archives: Migration

September 9, 2022: Flyway Morning and True Night

September 9, 2022: Morning on the Flyway

It’s September 9 and migration is well underway for many birds! According to birdcast.info (https://birdcast.info/) the next couple of nights should be very busy for nocturnal migrants along the length of the Mississippi Flyway. Good luck, everybody. We hope to see you next year! We were asked about some terms I used in our last eagle postcard. So what is true night? Let’s start with twilight! The Oxford Dictionary defines twilight as ‘The soft glowing light from the sky when

When will it happen? Eggs, falcons, ice-out, and snowy owls!

February 16, 2021: DNF's first egg

When will the eagles lay eggs? When will falcons come back? When will Snowy Owls leave? Your questions, answered! Check the quick and easy schedule below or read on to get the details! Want to help us log spring migrants on the Flyway? Share your sightings on our Facebook page, Instagram, or explore.org’s snapshot gallery. Please @raptorresource on Facebook and Instagram, and tag with #springmigration2022 on all platforms. You can also email photos and sightings to [email protected]. Remember to include

Four Foraging Stories from the Flyway

October 24, 2021: Mississippi Flyway

It’s late October and the birds we watch on the Mississippi Flyway are pouring south while local plant and animal populations dwindle in response to diminishing daylight length, colder temperatures, and reduced food availability. How do migrating birds find enough to eat in the diverse, rapidly changing habitats they travel through? Read these four foraging stories to learn more about how birds cope with the challenge of finding food on migration! River Dreaming Picture a Mississippi River lake: a lake

Four Migration Stories from the Flyway

June 28, 2021: Sandhill cranes on the Mississippi Flyway

We are seeing so many birds on the Flyway that I’m thinking about hiring an air traffic controller! We’ve identified 68 species of birds so far, 82% of which require water-based or water-adjacent habitat to nest, forage, and roost. Why do so many birds stop here? Lake Onalaska is an island of habitat for birds migrating south along the Mississippi River through the American interior. The lake’s islands, sandbars, braided channels, floodplain forests, and mudflats provide birds with everything they

March 2nd, 2021: Spring Nestflix!

February 27, 2021: A stunning look at Mr. North! We can see every detail of his face: the nictitating eyelid sweeping in from the side, his yellow cere and large oval nostrils, the edges and curved tip of his beak, the rimal feathers that line his eyes, and the rictal feathers around his 'beak lips'.

Spring is coming and birds are busy at (almost) all of our nests. At Decorah North, DNF wing-whacks a mouse and enjoys lunch, while Mr. North sounds the alarm over an intruder. We have stunning close-ups of both eagles, but we can’t quite get a peek at their egg! Love is in the air at GSB as an unknown female falcon courts Newman and Newman courts mate Nova. He didn’t quite sweet-talk her into their nest box, but it wasn’t