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Community Corner

A Birds Eye View on Hawk Migration

Learn about hawks from experts at the Westmoreland Sanctuary.

The end of summer is right around the corner, but September marks the beginning of migration for hawks headed south.

With a variety of raptors passing through the Westchester skies, one of the best scenic sites for hawk watching is the Chestnut Ridge Hawkwatch in Mount Kisco.

To get a birds-eye view of the migration, we headed to a hawk watching event organized by Westmoreland Sanctuary. The 640-acre non-profit sanctuary is open to the public all year and features over 8 miles of trails to hike while also facilitating student workshops on site and in schools.

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"On any given year, we will teach over 10,000 students on a variety of environmental topics local and national," said Steve Ricker, director of Westmoreland Sanctuary.

After a very short hike to the Hawkwatch view at the nearby Butler Sanctuary, experts explained the migration process and how they easily spot the differences between the hawks to identify their species. They count the hawks as they pass by on their journey. The data is used in intricate research that works as a collaborative effort with sanctuaries across the country.

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"You have a series of hawkwatch sites which basically follow a standardized protocol," explained Arthur Green, a hawk counter from the Bedford Audubon Society. "In doing so, it makes their data interoperable at the analysis stage and (they) fit it all together like a jigsaw puzzle."

The Westmoreland Sanctuary will be holding another free hawkwatching session on Sept. 19 starting at 8 a.m. All ages are welcome and be sure to bring binoculars so you don't miss the action.

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