Hawk Mountain: Beautiful Scenery And A Lot Of Hawks But Not Close Enough To Photogrpah.
Last Saturday I visited the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Berks County. Located about 35 miles southeast of my home in Luzerne County, along a ridge atop the Blue Mountain on the Kittatinny Ridge. this wild bird and raptor sanctuary was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1965 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. 
Hawk Mountain is located on the Appalachian flyway and over 20,000 raptors a year fly over or near the mountain ridge. I first visited the sanctuary while in college and last visited in 2015, when I hiked the River of Rocks Trail. I never have spent a lot of time observing the migrating hawks, eagles and falcons. So on Saturday I decided to do some hiking and try and get some photos of the raptors I hoped would be in the skies over Hawk Mountain. It was a clear, cool and windy sunny morning when I arrived at the parking lot around 8;30. I first walked up to the Visitor Center. I have been a member of Hawk Mountain Sanctuary for for over 15 years. I have always enjoyed the many exhibits at the Visitor Center but on Saturday I just wanted to inquire about the birds that were seen th past few days. 
After a nice chat with a staff member about the sanctuary and bird activity I walked through hardwood, mostly oak woodlands to the Silhouette Trail.
Silhouettes of large birds of prey can are displayed on this handicap accessible trail that leads to the South Lookout.
I was the only one on the Silhouette Trail and only a few people were at the South Overlook. There were a few staff members, trainees and volunteers from the sanctuary there to, greeting visitors and providing information on the sanctuary. I took in the view of the Blue Mountain and the valley below. However, I didn’t see any migrating birds at the overlook.
I followed the Lookout Trail through the woodlands along the ridge. Most of the trees were already displaying there Fall colors. A steady wind was blowing from the northwest and a steady flutter of falling leaves fell from the tree tops. 
After about a 1/2 mile from the parking lot I came to the River of Rock Overlook. 
I stopped and enjoyed the view of the valley below,and the large field of boulders that were deposited in the valley during th Ice Age 15, 000 years ago. I reflected on my hike along the boulder field during my last visit. 
I continued on the trail seeing one of the few birds I would see in the woodlands atop the mountain, a tufted titmouse. I am not sure if there were birds nesting here during th Summer months and they left or if birds just don’t inhabit the mountain top. 
The only other critter I would see in the woods along the trail was this gray squirrel foraging for food. 
There were not many wildflowers on the ridge top either, I only saw some hairy asters. 
Some intermediate-wood ferns also grew along the trail. 
I short distance later on the trail I came to the Bald Overlook, and I crawled up some boulders to take in the view.
I enjoyed the view but did not see any migrating raptors from the overlook. I had a much harder time getting down the boulders then I did scampering up them, a reminder I am not as young as I think I am. 
I continued on th Lookout Trail only encountering a few people on the along the way. 
The trail started to slope upward and became very rocky. 
I navigated the rocky trail, which continued upward, now with a handrail in some of the more rocky and steeper sections of the trail. 
The trail took me near the top of the ridge and to the site of sandstone quarry that operated here in the late 1800’s. Signs along the trail told of the history of the quarry. 
I walked over to the location of slide that once took the limestone down the mountainside. 
It was here that early hunters shot at the migrating hawks in the early 1900’s thinking they were nuisance birds that preyed on the livestock of local farmers. It was the efforts of Rosalie Edge that ended the slaughter of the hawks in 1934 and the beginning of this now world famous sanctuary. 
I continued on the trail which took me through an area of thick rhododendrons as it continued up to the North Lookout.
The trail now came to step rocky slope with handrails on both sides. I climbed the trail ,
and came to the rocky ridge top at the North Overlook.
There were about a dozen people scattered on the rocks and boulders watching for migrating hawks with their binoculars which, unfortunately, I didn’t bring. Staff from the sanctuary sighted and identified migrating hawks and pointed them out to the onlookers who looked for the birds with their binoculars.. At this time it appeared most of the folks were birders.
Most of the hawk sightings were sharp-shinned hawks. Unfortunately, the majority of the sighting were out of my camera range. Occasionally a sharp-shinned hawk would fly close enough to see without binoculars and allowed me to get a few photos. 
And I was able to get a photo of this turkey vulture. However, my hopes of getting some close up photos of the migrating hawks were not going to happen. At 10 a.m the staff read out the sighting for the past hour and they observed over 60 sharp-shinned hawks, a few red-tailed hawks, falcons and one bald eagle. 
I wanted to get my hiking in so I decided to follow the trail back to the South Lookout. It was about a one mile hike.
There was now steady stream of people on the rocky trail, ranging in age from an infant carried by his/her father, to a couple who slowly navigated the rocks and looked as if they were in their 80’s 0r 90’s. I was glad to see many families hiking along the trail.
I hiked back to the South Lookout and then back to the North Lookout, not seeing any birds or other wildlife on the hike. There were even more people navigating the rocky trail now. I returned to the North Lookout and now found the rocky outcrop packed with a large crowd of people enjoying the scenic view and the migrating hawks. 
Once again I could only hear the staff calling out the bird identifications as the hawks soared by in the distance , not being able to see them without binoculars. It was still a perfect place to spend a sunny October morning. I sat on some rocks for about a half hour before deciding to hike back to the visitor center. 
On the hike back I enjoyed the sun streaming through the colorful leaves on the trees, 
especially the sassafras leaves. 
I stopped at the south lookout and observed some of the photos and the exhibit there. A young trainee was answering questions for the first time visitors to the sanctuary.
I had walked a little over four miles and wanted to get my usual five mile hike in ( I had walked two miles near my him earlier) so I decided to visit the Native Habitat Garden near the Visitor Center. I pased through the large iron gates,
and walked through the native plants and wildflowers. 
There were still some native wildflowers still blooming along the walkways, including, blue wood-asters,
New England asters,
and obdient flowers. I am sure this gardens would be beautiful in ther Spring and Summer. 
There was a gazebo and a small pond in the gardens, 
and here I saw a few white-throated sparrows, 
and Carolina wrens. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos of the birds and plants I saw on my hike. Hawk Mountain birds and plants October 12 2024. 
I left the garden and walked behind the Visitor Center and to the Ampitheater.
Here a staff mamaber as giving a lecture on barn owls which encluded this beautiful and well-behaved bird. I watched the presentation for a while and then walked back to the parking lot. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog website with some more photos from my hike. Hawk Mountain birds and plants October 12 2024.
It was now early afternoon and I decided to leave the sanctuary. I had hoped to get some close up of the hawks, eagles and other raptors at the sanctuary but I enjoyed the hike atop the ridge and the beautiful views at the overlooks along the trail. 
“I am the hawk and there’s blood in my feathers, but time is still turning they soon will be dry. And all those who see me and all who believe in me, share in the freedom I feel when I fly.” John Denver
“You cannot friend a hawk, they said, unless you are a hawk yourself, alone and only a sojourner in the land, without friends or the need of them” Stephen King
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