Join us in celebrating the past 50 years, the people, the places, and the raptors while we also look to the future of the next 50 years, what it might bring and what we hope for.  We are calling on all hawk watchers, raptor enthusiasts, raptor biologists, and HMANA friends across the Americas to join us in person or virtually for this momentous conference and anniversary celebration!

Fifty years ago, HMANA was the first organization established to create standardized protocols for conducting long-term hawk migration counts. As a result, these data collection methods have been effectively used at over 200 spring and fall count sites across the Americas. Site data is centralized in HMANA’s database, HawkCount.org which has now grown to be the largest raptor migration monitoring database in the world.

Today we are tracking trends in North American raptors better than ever before, thanks to thousands of hawkwatchers and HMANA’s steadfast, inspiring leadership. But perhaps just as important is how watchsites across the continent are connecting people to raptors and their conservation. A new education initiative with schools is being piloted in Michigan and will be shared by teachers attending the HMANA 50^th conference as an exciting new step to engage young people. If you have ever witnessed  the enthusiasm of newcomers seeing an eagle sailing overhead for the first time, you know the special connections to birds that hawkwatches help provide.

Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, in Duluth, Minnesota, has monitored hawks for more than 50 years. Its location is central to HMANA sites across the Americas and is well-known for its late fall hawk flights. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to visit the Hawk Ridge daily and take local birding trips to unique sites, such as Sax-Zim Bog. We expect birdwatchers and hawk enthusiasts from across the continent will flock to the conference to celebrate HMANA and to view the remarkable spectacle of raptor migration at the renowned Hawk Ridge.

The conference weekend will offer a variety of speakers, consisting of the top names in raptor migration research and education, as well as enriching symposiums, poster sessions, and field trips throughout the Duluth
area. Keynote speaker, Dr. Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, founder of the Veracruz River of Raptors in Mexico, will be speaking about raptor migration in the Neotropics: three decades of discovery. Plenary speaker Clay Sutton (co-author of Hawks in Flight), will share his insight into hawk watching over the last 50 years. Some other areas of focus will include movement ecology, current status and threats, winter monitoring efforts, raptor education insights, and what the future of hawk watching may bring.

A diverse mix of field trips will allow you to visit the renowned Hawk Ridge overlook to experience late fall migration hawk watching along Lake Superior’s north shore, as well as traveling north along the shore in search
of northern avian specialties and visiting the Hawk Ridge owl banding station. Field trip space is limited so save your spot today!

Conference Registration is now open! Virtual options are available. View the conference program, make hotel reservations or become a conference sponsor here: https://www.hmana.org/50thconference/. Please direct any questions to Julie Brown, HMANA’s raptor migration and programs director at brown@hmana.org. We hope you’ll join us for this celebratory and historic event