Iowans flock to Northeast Iowa to watch big birds

The official “Hawk Watch” may have been last weekend at Effigy Mounds State Park, but naturalist Joe Boyles says this weekend will be even better. Boyles leaves today with a busload of hawk watchers, but says anyone is welcome to visit the park, where it’s about the peak for the annual migration of hawks…and many others. It’s not only a peak time for raptor migration but also for fall foliage turning colors. Boyles says most of the raptors you’ll see near Harper’s Ferry on the Mississippi River are partway along their biannual migration, but not all.Red-tailed hawks will stay year-round, and some birds, like bald eagles that nest further north, will stop here for the winter if there’s open water where they can feed on fish. Effigy Mounds State Park is three miles north of Marquette on Highway 76, or 17 miles south of Waukon.