Each year September – November, daily, 9 am – 4 pm, join our Hawk Watch Coordinator and Hawk Watch Volunteers on Ashland Hawk Watch Hill to help us look for the 20,000 raptors that migrate by in the fall season. All ages welcome.
Ashland Hawk Watch Hill – an Important Bird Area
Ashland Hawk Watch Hill, Ashland Nature Center’s highest hill, is in the center of the Red Clay Audubon Important Bird Area, designated by the National Audubon Society. Begun in 2007, this raptor migration count station operates September through November annually with migrant birds of prey counted daily. Our findings, along with those of over 200 other hawk watch sites across North America, are reported to the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA). Ashland Hawk Watch Hill is ideally situated to see the daytime migration. Hawk Watch Hill is on the eastern edge of the Piedmont, a chain of rolling hills extending from New York to Alabama. This is a flyway for many of these birds heading south. Come by and enjoy help identifying birds from our full-time hawk watcher and trained volunteers.
Latest Hawk Watch Stats
View our Ashland Hawkcount page for our current and historic hawk flight data.
View our Ashand Bird Sightings eBird page to see current and historic data on birds observed.
In fall 2019, a total of 18,041 migrant raptors were counted representing 15 species:
- Sharp-shinned Hawk: 1184
- Cooper’s Hawk: 459
- Red-shouldered Hawk: 550
- Broad-winged Hawk: 627
- Red-tailed Hawk: 1467
- Osprey: 218
- Bald Eagle: 791
- Northern Harrier: 116
- Golden Eagle: 8
- American Kestrel: 253
- Merlin: 83
- Peregrine Falcon: 9
- Black Vulture: 2885
- Turkey Vulture: 9357
Raptor Season Migration Times
. . . the best times to visit DelNature Hawk Watch to view your favorite species:
OspreySeptember and October. Peaks late September or early October.
Bald EagleConsistent September through mid-November. No noticeable peak.
Northern HarrierConsistent September through November. Slight peak in October.
Sharp-shinned HawkSeptember through November. Peaks in mid-late October.
Cooper’s HawkSeptember through early November. Peaks mid-October.
Northern GoshawkLow numbers occur late October to mid-November.
Red-shouldered HawkGenerally October and November. Peaks in November.
Broad-winged HawkOccurs in large numbers during mid-September.
Red-tailed HawkOctober and November. Peaks in November.
Golden EagleSmall numbers come through late October and early November.
American KestrelSeptember and October. Peaks in late September.
MerlinSeptember and October.
Peregrine FalconSeptember and October. Peaks early October.
Turkey & Black Vulture (shown)October and November.
Ashland Hawk Watch Fun Facts
- Common Loons can be seen flying overhead in September and October.
- Common Nighthawks should be looked for in the late afternoon during the month of September.
- Delaware Nature Society’s Ashland Nature Center is the only Delaware nesting site for the Sharp-shinned Hawk.
- Monarch Butterflies migrate past Hawk Watch Hill. On a nice day in September or October, you may see hundreds of them go by.
- Tree Swallows swarm during October. In the afternoon, sometimes thousands can be seen going past, usually to the southeast.
- During November, migrant Canada Geese, Snow Geese, and sometimes Tundra Swans can be seen migrating south by the thousands.
Our Hawk Watch is a joint project of:
In connection with:
