Hawk watching, here and away
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- October
- 15
The Lower Hudson Valley has some decent spots to watch migrating hawks passing by on their way south every fall. Hook Mountain in Rockland County and Chestnut Ridge in Bedford come to mind.
But, if you’re into raptors and hawk watching, you have to head to Cape May, NJ during migration season, roughly September through November. Geography creates a natural funnel of sorts, gathering all the hawks who hug the Atlantic coast and sending them across the southern tip of New Jersey. It’s the last, little bit of land the birds can stick to before making the hop over the Delaware Bay.
We went down there this past weekend. On a day where Hook Mountain saw 191 raptors go by and 353 flew by Chestnut Ridge, 1,536 were counted at Cape May. That’s not even the high for the month to date, if you go back on the chart and look at Oct. 5. 
The photo shows turkey vultures soaring past in a neat-looking formation.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 11:08 am by Mike Risinit.
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Journal News staff writer Greg Clary writes Earth Watch, reporting on environmental issues in the lower Hudson region. Clary has been a reporter, editor and columnist at the Journal News since 1988 and has covered police and courts, transportation, municipal government, development and the environment in the Lower Hudson Valley, among other topics. 
Laura Incalcaterra covers the environment, open space and zoning and planning issues for The Journal News. A Boston College graduate, Laura grew up in Rockland, attended East Ramapo schools and has worked for The Journal News since 1993. Laura has written features and covered North Rockland, crime, government and a host of other issues.
Mike Risinit covers Patterson and Kent in Putnam County, as well as environmental topics touching on the Hudson River and the Great Swamp. Risinit has been a reporter at The Journal News since 1998.
Cape May is indeed the place to be for so many kinds of birds. As raptors go, October is indeed a winning month for them because of accipiters and falcons. Oddly, they get so few Broad-winged Hawks; on a year when Cape May turns out 504, Chestnut Ridge pulled 5730 in one of its worst years in a long time, and Hook Mountain pulled 6803 (in one of its best). Westchesterites needn’t go far at all for some excellent birding!