Place to Explore

I appreciate many things about my state and like to share places and favorites with natives and visitors. This week I discovered HAWK RIDGE near Duluth through a book of the same title by Laura Erickson. Despite many visits to Duluth and the North Shore, Hawk Ridge has never been mentioned by anyone I know! Yet it is a hill that overlooks Lake Superior over which twenty species of raptors fly each year in a migratory pattern. Bird watchers estimate their numbers in the thousands! I learned that hawks gather in a thermal, a rising spiral of hot air, and travel together in that pattern to save energy. That group is called a kettle. The author and illustrator (the fabulous Betsy Bowen, who painted in acrylics and drew in ink) cover each raptor in detail, creating a completely engaging book...and planting a seed of interest for a future trip to Hawk Ridge.