Our amazing crews have been diligently counting the field season away, educating and entertaining visitors, and contributing essential data to our long-term monitoring program. If you haven’t made it to one of our sites yet or just want to stay in the loop, we’ve got you covered with updates from our teams on the ground.
Tubac HawkWatch, AZ
The Common Black Hawk count started slow, but picked up nicely in mid-March. We’ve had 415 (as of 4/9/25) Common Black Hawks, with three on the 31st (tying with 2023 for the highest count on the last day of March). We had a good start for Red-tailed Hawks in February, and the earliest detections of Broad-winged Hawks at the end of March—hopefully an early wave with more to come. Another highlight includes a dark morph Short-tailed Hawk in the area once again this year, dazzling visitors each time it makes an appearance. The weather has varied from super windy, dust-eating days to 97 degrees with barely a breeze to beautiful, perfect hawkwatching weather! We’ve also had some other wildlife visitors, including a javelina that marched right through the site and lots of Arizona songbirds! We also see lots of local dogs (with birding owners in tow) who have learned to expect treats every time they come by the site.
It was a treat to see members of the Corpus Christi HawkWatch crew who visited during peak in March, providing much help with counting and lots of delicious food. A group from the Netherlands visited and checked off multiple species from their target list, calling us a “very efficient hawkwatch”. And we’ve had seven visitors who have also visited the Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch!
When we’re not working, we’ve both been exploring the surrounding area (the Anza trail, Madera Canyon, Buenos Aires NWR, Patagonia, etc.), hiking, and birding on days off. Melissa is endlessly searching for a Green Kingfisher, and Bridger is checking out as many taco trucks as he possibly can.
Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch, AK
Fieldwork is going great! We’ve had a couple of high Golden Eagle days, and are starting to get more species coming through, including Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawks and small numbers of American Goshawks. Northern Hawk Owls have been regular visitors at the site. We’ve had some cold days, but we have been keeping mostly warm, and the snow is finally starting to melt! The site is surrounded by lots of other wildlife including some moose, Willow Ptarmigan and Spruce Grouse, very friendly Canada Jays, and a tiny shrew that we’ve named Nocs that hangs out at Milepost 121.
We’ve also had visits from some of our partners, like Travis Booms from Alaska Fish and Game, and Jordan Muir and Amy Pocewicz from USFWS, to hawkwatch with us for a bit. A lot of locals, people traveling through, and friends of Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch have also stopped by to check out the count and wish us well.
You won’t be surprised to hear that a crew of hawkwatchers is spending their free time mostly birding. We’ve also gotten up to a wee bit of hiking and enjoying the beautiful scenery, including the aurora. Of course, we can’t forget playing with the lodge dog Biggly.
This blog was written by Sammy Riccio, our Communications Manager, as well as our 2025 spring crewmembers. You can learn more about Sammy here.
