Birders, families invited to join spring migration watch at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary
Weekend programs feature live raptors
Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton welcomes families, nature enthusiasts and birders to the Mountain for the spring migration watch, Raptorthon fundraiser and weekend educational programs.
“The story of Hawk Mountain is a story of hope — from shooting grounds to sanctuary,” said Jamie Dawson, Director of Education, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. “From learning about Hawk Mountain’s history and current work, I hope visitors are empowered to know that the actions of each individual truly can make a positive difference — for raptor conservation and beyond.”
The 2,500-acre sanctuary is the world’s first refuge for birds of prey. Open to the public year-round, trail-fees and memberships support the non-profit organization’s raptor conservation mission and localto-global research, training and education programs.
What makes Hawk Mountain a great place to visit is the “beautiful sanctuary with stunning overlooks; awesome hiking trails; fun, diverse and engaging education programs; live raptors; and amazing conservation science projects in action,” said Dawson.
While visiting the Sanctuary for migration, visitors are welcome to join the spring weekend programs held every Saturday and Sunday throughout the count.
Hawk Mountain’s signature live raptor program Raptors Up Close!, sponsored by M&T Bank, is held in the ADA-accessible outdoor Amphitheater.
The Name That Raptor program at Laurelwood Niche teaches birders identifying factors such as a silhouettes, behavior, and markings, and while there travel back in time to the Sanctuary’s founding in 1934 with the History of Hawk Mountain program.
This spring, the Sanctuary welcomed trainees from Costa Rica, Argentina, Spain and Italy, as well as local trainees from Pennsylvania and nearby regions.
“Our international trainees have returned!” said
Dawson. “We did not host international trainees in 2020-2021 due to the pandemic.”
International trainees studying long-distance migratory patterns offer discussions of their work and allow hands-on sampling of the tools used in the field during the Trapping & Tracking program located near South Lookout.
Raptorthon
The Hawk Migration Association of North America hosts the 2022 Raptorthon fundraiser on Earth Day, April 22.
Sanctuary Director of Conservation Science Dr. Laurie Goodrich and the spring conservation trainees will scan the skies for returning raptor migrants.
Fundraiser participants can pledge per bird, make a flat donation, or join the association on the Mountain. Team Hawk Mountain “Counting for Conservation” will be at the North Lookout and South Lookout from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
“By supporting Hawk Mountain, you are supporting local environmental stewardship, raptor conservation science, education, as well as other organizations around the world who are also working hard to protect raptors,” said Dawson.
Spring Migration
During the spring migration count through May 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., staff, trainees and volunteers will be perched at the North Lookout to help visitors learn about and identify raptors, including broad-winged hawks, redtails, ospreys, bald eagles, and more.
The Sanctuary has monitored the spring raptor migration since the 1960s and reports an average of about 1,000 raptors each 45-day season. Usual oneday peak counts can reach more than 100 birds in mid to late April, especially on days with southerly winds and cloud cover. Daily counts are posted throughout the season at hawkmountain.org/count.
“Our migration count is extremely important for the conservation of raptors because as the longest running raptor migration count in the world (since 1934), it provides long-term data on the population trends of raptor species,” said Dawson. “Without our long-term migration count data, we would not know the baseline populations of
these raptors.”
Dawson explained that without knowing the normal population levels, they would not know when populations start to decline.
“And why should we care about the health of raptor populations? Well, raptors are top predators, so they serve an important role in our ecosystem — keeping nature in balance,” said Dawson. “As top apex predators, raptors are also bioindicators, meaning that if there is a healthy population of raptors, that implies that the entire ecosystem is healthy because it can support the top predators. Conversely, if the populations of top predators start to decline, that is a big warning sign that something is wrong in the ecosystem.”
Since 2000, International Conservation Science trainees have assisted in conducting the daily count at the North Lookout, learning migration count techniques from the Sanctuary’s experienced volunteers and staff.
Dawson hopes a visit to Hawk Mountain provides “inspiration to take action
for raptor conservation” as well as “wonderful memories in nature enjoying the beautiful sanctuary.”
Those who wish to hike to the North Lookout and enjoy the view and migrating raptors should wear sturdy shoes and be prepared for a walk over rocky terrain.
The nearby South Lookout may be preferable to those with small children or with limited mobility and can be reached using a 900-foot-long ADA accessible Silhouette Trail with bench seating.
Trail fees apply for nonmembers and cost $10 for adults, $7 for seniors, and $5 for children ages 6 to 12. Tickets can be purchased at hawkmountain.ticketleap.com. Members are admitted free, year-round, and memberships can be purchased online or at the Visitor Center.
More information about the programs and when they are held can be found at hawkmountain.org/ weekendprograms.
For more about Hawk Mountain, call 610-7566961 or visit www.hawkmountain.org.