During this past Spring’s migration while out looking for early arriving warblers, I met Phil Fitzpatrick. After I pointed out some Ruby-Crowned Kinglets which were ambushing the few bugs which had hatched after the late spring, Phil mentioned  he was writing a book about Hawk Ridge. I was intrigued no end!

Fast forward four months and Hawk Ridge’s magic of migration is starting, and Phil’s book is ready to hit the streets (and the thermals). What I did not know at our first meeting was in just a few short years of birding the Ridge, Phil had become enraptured with that special place. Unlike me with my camera, Phil uses words to capture the essence of birds. He is a poet.

Next week, his book Hawks on High will be released by Savage Press.  If you live in Duluth, the book launch will be celebrated at Zeitgeist on Monday, September 9th between 5 and 9 pm. I would be in attendance except for the fact I will be camped out and working at a remote lighthouse on Lake Superior that entire week (Crisp Point).

Don’t live near Duluth? Hawks on High will have an event on September 13th at the Lake Country Booksellers in White Bear Lake (north suburbs, Twin Cities). Learn more about the book and when the author might be in your area via his Facebook page. (contact author, learn how to purchase book)

So why should you be interested in Phil’s book? If you find yourself nodding your head in agreement with these statements, it will be obvious.

• You enjoy / understand the magic of Duluth’s Hawk Ridge migration
• Poetry helps define that magic
• You enjoy the drawings of Penny Perry (Duluth artist)

Here is just one of Penny’s drawings from the book. The drawing is copyrighted and is used with permission.

Combine Penny’s art with Phil’s poetry and Uff Dah!

Phil’s poems capture the migration in five sections:

• The Place and Its People
• Of Time, Space and History
• Dramatis Personae
• For the Nestlings
• A Quartet of Quartets
  • Falco Peregrinus
  • Full Disclosure
  • I Shall Be Released
  • All Things Must Pass

Here is just one example: (copyrighted … used with permission)

Ghost Birds by Phil Fitzpatrick

it happens this way sometimes on a field
over a meadow or above the breathy lake
away from the daily hubbub at Hawk Ridge:
while the dog lopes leash-free, a quiet sit
knowing hawks are elsewhere but not here,
no need to bother with hope or expectation

yet long I stare skyward for empty minutes
at gray clouds scudding under the white puffs,
a classic midday sky with intermittent blue;
then, an apparition: a dozen distant specks,
a spiraling gyre of broad-wings, ghost birds;
don’t look away, they will not remain long

the wonder is how on earth, how in heaven
the winged transients could have come here,
could have taken shape, stayed long enough
for threads, for traces of older ghosts to visit;
how they found this moment stays shrouded,
but memories renew as they fade from view

Enjoy the Magic of Migration!