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Backyard Almanac
Phenology with local naturalist Larry Weber every Friday morning at 8:20 on Northland Morning.

Backyard Almanac - hawks and handsaws - weather and migration

The North 103.3 | By Lisa Johnson
Published September 29, 2017 at 1:04 PM CDT
©Sparky Stensaas. Used with permission.
"I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw." ~ Wm. Shakespeare, "Hamlet"

Whether or not Hamlet had spent any time at Hawk Ridge is a question for another time, but experienced birders know a northwesterly wind is best for seeing birds at what has become an internationally-recognized place to see migration.

Credit ©Sparky Stensaas. Used with permission.
Peregrine falcon

This week's northwesterly winds brought a lot of warblers and Hawk Ridge Education Director Clint Nienhaus says they broke the previous record sightings of yellow-bellied sapsuckers by 150 birds or more.

But the rain and the southerly winds expected Sunday could bring a gift in the form of peregrine falcons the next day.
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Environment & Outdoors Backyard AlmanacLarry WeberMigrationYellow-bellied SapsuckersWindHawk RidgeClinton Nienhausperegrine falcons
Lisa Johnson
Lisa Johnson started her broadcast career anchoring the television news at her high school and spinning country music at KWWK/KOLM Radio in Rochester, Minnesota. She was a reporter and news anchor at KTHI in Fargo, ND (not to mention the host of a children's program called "Lisa's Lane") and a radio reporter and anchor in Moorhead, Bismarck, Wahpeton and Fergus Falls.Since 1991, she has hosted Northland Morning on KUMD. One of the best parts of her job includes "paying it forward" by mentoring upcoming journalists and broadcasters on the student news team that helps produce Northland Morning. She also loves introducing the different people she meets in her job to one another, helping to forge new "community connections" and partnerships.Lisa has amassed a book collection weighing over two tons, and she enjoys reading, photography, volunteering with Animal Allies Humane Society and fantasizing about farmland. She goes to bed at 8pm, long before her daughter, two cats, or three dogs.
See stories by Lisa Johnson
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