PRESQUE ISLE HAWK WATCH 

Follow along with local hawkwatchers as they compile data on diurnal raptor movements during spring migration via HMANA’s website, hawkcount.org. The main profile for the PI Hawkwatch can be found HERE and during season, Jerry’s daily reports are uploaded HERE.

2024 Season: Presque Isle Hawkwatching started on February 20th, 2024 and is scheduled to end on May 31, 2024. Please note that counting is not conducted daily, only on days when there is at least some migration in progress. The greatest hawk movements often occur during the time period from the middle of March to the end of April.

For over 50 YEARS and counting, birders have flocked to a small parking lot near the entrance to Presque Isle State Park, Erie, Pennsylvania. Led by Jerry McWilliams, these intrepid raptor enthusiasts gather together every spring to witness and compile data on seasonal hawk movements and overall migration as well as on the vast number of other migrants including Blue Jays.

In the 1950's, this area was popular among gunners, who shot accipiters and Blue Jays in large numbers as they migrated past. At that time it was legal to shoot these birds, but protected birds of prey were also occasionally shot. Over the years the trees grew back, following some previous logging and in combination with human development left few areas open enough for hawkwatching. The Presque Isle State Park then purchased the property and built the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. The open parking area, previously a drive-in theater, made an ideal location for a hawkwatch site, so in the spring of 2008 the Presque Isle Hawkwatch site was officially established.