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Each autumn thousands of broad-winged hawks and 16 other species of hawks, eagles and vultures migrate southwest over the hilltop at the Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch at the Audubon Center in Greenwich, Connecticut.

In the late 1960’s, birders in the Fairfield County, Connecticut area began searching for sites at which large numbers of migrant raptors could be observed. Over a dozen sites were tested on weekends for a few years, until the number of prime sites was reduced to three or four. Eventually, it was determined that Quaker Ridge on the grounds of the Audubon Center at Greenwich was by far best site in the area.

Since 1972 migrating hawks have been counted as they pass over Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch, which is one of the hundreds of official hawk watch locations nationwide. The field at Quaker Ridge in Greenwich is an excellent vantage point and is one of the highest points in town. Volunteer hawk watchers count and record the hawks which provides data to gauge the health of the northeastern raptor populations, and the annual spectacle which can include thousands of hawks in a day delights thousands of visitors to the Nature Center. In 1985, the Audubon Society hired a full-time watcher for the Quaker Ridge site. The site has been manned by a paid hawk watcher during the week and volunteer watchers on the weekend every year since. The total count for hawks overhead at Quaker Ridge Hawk Watch in the fall of 2005 was 14,554.

You can find specific data on the most recent year and going back to 2002 years of hawk watch sightings at Greenwich by going to the web site www.hawkcount.org and click on “summaries” and request “Quaker Ridge.”

The site, directly adjacent to the Kimberlin Nature Education Center, is open every day from mid-August to mid-November, and an experienced hawk watcher is on hand to answer your questions. At the peak of this spectacle, the second weekend in September, the Audubon Center holds a Hawk Watch Weekend Festival which includes presentations of live birds up close and personal, identification workshops by the experts, fun raptor activities for kids, nature hikes and other events.