ALBANY TWP., Pa. — Hawk Mountain's official autumn migration count has ended with a new all-time record for bald eagles at 619 for the season, with more than 15,000 trekking birds recorded.
“The final official day of the count was an exciting one with nine bald eagles spotted, setting a new all-time record for the species at 619 for the season,” according to a Dec. 22 news release from the Berks County sanctuary.
“Also counted were four turkey vultures, which solidified a total of 964 for the season, the second highest count total for the species.
“The final migrant of the season was an adult red-tailed hawk.”
The longest running raptor migration count in the world, staff and volunteers at the sanctuary, 1700 Hawk Mountain Road, have monitored the autumnal migration since 1934 as part of conservation research efforts. The count, which started Aug. 15 and ended Dec. 15, generally averages 18,000 raptors with one-day peak counts of more than 3,000 birds during September.
"Five staff, 14 volunteer counters and five trainees manned the lookout for 1,095 hours across 120 days scanning the skies, while welcoming the 14,647 visitors to the lookout engaging them with the viewshed, orographic lift and the nuances of raptor migration."Hawk Mountain Sanctuary officials
“Five staff, 14 volunteer counters and five trainees manned the lookout for 1,095 hours across 120 days scanning the skies, while welcoming the 14,647 visitors to the lookout engaging them with the viewshed, orographic lift and the nuances of raptor migration,” officials said.
A viewshed is the geographical area that is visible from a location, while orographic lift happens when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation, such as around mountains.
While it was a record-setting season for bald eagles, the overall count was down from years past, officials said. The season total of 15,106 was 7% below the 10-year average.
“Nine of 16 species had below average counts, most notable were American goshawk, 56% below average, red-tailed hawk, 34% below average, osprey, 29% below average, and golden eagle, 22% below average,” officials said. “Hawk Mountain isn’t an outlier though — counts of osprey, goshawks, redtails, and goldens were below average for all watchsites in the state.”
In addition to raptors, Hawk Mountain officials also recorded more than 65,054 migrating birds and insects, including 129 species of birds, 11 species of butterflies and three species of dragonflies.
“Notable birds seen this fall were sandhill crane, anhinga, and the first record of wood stork for North Lookout,” officials said.
Staff and volunteers at Hawk Mountain count migrating raptors twice a year, once in spring and again in the fall. The 2023 official spring migration count, which ran from April 1 through May 15, ended with just shy of 1,200 birds of prey recorded — 25% above the 10-year average.
The Lehigh Gap Nature Center, which also records raptor migration data each autumn, reported almost 11,000 birds of prey from Aug. 15 to Nov. 24. Officials there said numbers generally fall in line with recent trends, showing some species are more robust than others.
