Hawk Mountain, the world’s first sanctuary for birds of prey, was founded in 1934 thanks to an unlikely confluence of three elements: thermal air currents, overzealous hunters, and a bird-loving suffragist named Rosalie Edge.
Every fall, North American raptors – from lofty bald eagles to nimble peregrine falcons – migrate south from their various breeding grounds to their summer ranges, where rivers remain unfrozen and fields are hopping with food. In the spring, they come back north, riding the wind along the coast or over mountain ranges.
On the way, a whole lot of them fly by Hawk Mountain. Wind currents and thermal updrafts concentrate the flow of raptors over this sky-high ridge in the Appalachians. On gusty days, “you can get hundreds and hundreds zipping by within fifty or a hundred feet of you,” says Laurie Goodrich, the sanctuary’s director of conservation science.
A brief history of Hawk Mountain
The mountain got its name during the Great Depression, when hunters climbed up it to shoot hawks en masse.
Conservation organisations failed to step in – at the time, hawks were unpopular even among bird fans, due to their tendency to eat smaller birds – and the state game commission paid $5 per head for dead goshawks. Countless raptors were killed for sport or cash on the peak.
In 1933, photographs of hundreds of shot-down raptors got in front of Rosalie Edge, a New York socialite and activist who championed conservation and women’s right to vote. Horrified by the images, she made it her mission to protect the birds.
The next year, she leased 1,400 acres of land on the mountain and hired the husband-and-wife team of Maurice and Irma Broun, both avid birders, as wardens to keep hunters away.
Once the hunters had been dissuaded, Edge opened the area to the public, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary was born.
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The world’s first raptor sanctuary
It was the Brouns who began tallying raptors as they migrated past the mountain – their earliest record, from September 30, 1934, documents 128 hawks, eagles, harriers, falcons and vultures.
Today, a combination of sanctuary staff and volunteers continues the tradition, which is now the world’s longest-running raptor count. They’ve found that between April 1 and May 15 each year, about a thousand birds of prey make their way through. Between August 15 and December 15, the average total number is 18,000.
The ongoing old-school monitoring gives scientists insights into bird populations and behaviors, which they supplement with data obtained from GPS tags. This helps us learn where the raptors go throughout the year – after they’ve soared safely past this checkpoint, intercepted only by binoculars.
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Hawk Mountain raptor species
Sixteen raptor species fly past Hawk Mountain, including the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos), American kestrel (Falco sparverius) and peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus).
How to see the Hawk Mountain raptors
Spring and autumn migration seasons are the best time to visit Hawk Mountain – aim for a windy day. The center’s South Lookout is wheelchair accessible.
Hawk Mountain location: 1700 Hawk Mountain Road, Kempton, Pennsylvania.
Excerpted from Atlas Obscura: Wild Life by Cara Giaimo and Joshua Foer (Workman Publishing). Copyright 2024.
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