You may come to the Grand Canyon to see the resident California Condors, but we’d like to convince you to wander over to the Grand Canyon HawkWatch to see migrant raptors flying by. In addition to the great views of resident condors, we see an average of nearly 5,000 migratory raptors, including some less common western species like the Zone-tailed Hawk. Plus, the site is staffed by four fantastic crew members there to help you hone your raptor ID skills and talk birdy with you!
Thank you to our friends at the National Park Service and the Grand Canyon Conservancy for supporting our work.
Grace Yaros
This fall marks Grace’s second season counting at the Grand Canyon HawkWatch, and she’s thrilled to be back! She served as the 2024 Grand Canyon HawkWatch site lead and is the site lead again for the 2026 season. During the fall of 2025, she completed a raptor banding internship at Cedar Grove Ornithological Research Station in Wisconsin, then went on to count at the Tolima Raptor Count in central Colombia for the spring 2026 migration season. Having worked in the Midwest this past fall and summer, she is very excited to be reunited with the raptors of the western U.S. this season. Picking a favorite raptor is extremely difficult, but she is especially fond of Broad-winged Hawks and Merlins!
Outside of migration, she has recently been involved with studying and monitoring endangered species, including Florida Grasshopper Sparrows and Kirtland’s Warblers. When she’s not birdwatching, she loves embroidering and listening to music.
Jason Tendler
Jason is thrilled to be participating in his first season of raptor migration monitoring this fall at the Grand Canyon HawkWatch! Since finishing his Bachelor’s degree in 2021 at the University of Wisconsin La Crosse, he has spent three summer field seasons in northern Utah studying a breeding population of Flammulated Owls (his favorite raptor)! He is currently analyzing their parental provisioning strategies for the upcoming completion of his Master’s thesis. Some of Jason’s other hobbies include hiking, camping, playing disc golf, and anything else that involves being outside! He is very excited to spend the fall expanding his western bird ID skills and staring into one of the country’s most incredible landscapes every day!
Finn Velisaris
Finn Velisaris is a Pacific Northwesterner who went to UC Davis for a Bachelor’s in Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. He previously worked with Northern Harriers in California’s Central Valley, which fostered a newfound interest in raptors, especially after seeing their in-air prey passes. He’s excited to start his first season of hawkwatching and to meet all the raptors and crew while exploring the Grand Canyon. In his free time, he enjoys riding on his bike, doing crafts like knitting and sewing, and spending time adventuring with friends. His favorite raptor is the Bearded Vulture.
Marissa Mitchell
Marissa is excited for her first season hawkwatching! She graduated from Cal Poly SLO with a degree in Environmental Management and Protection and has since worked with Mexican Spotted Owls in New Mexico, as well as California Spotted and Flammulated Owls near Lake Tahoe. Marissa looks forward to sharpening her identification skills. In her free time, she likes to spend time in San Francisco parks, paint, read, listen to music, and spend time with loved ones. Her favorite raptor is a tie between the Spotted Owl and the Red-Tailed Hawk!
If you need help planning your trip or are curious about how the count is going during the season, join our “Friends of Grand Canyon HawkWatch” Facebook group! There, you can chat directly with our crew and other bird nerds excited about the fall count.
It’s also HawkWatch International’s 40th anniversary, so we’re celebrating all fall long with tons of events across our network. Find out how you can join in on all the fun with our fall hub: https://hawkwatch.org/2026-fall-hub/
This blog was written by Sammy Riccio, our Communications Manager, as well as our 2026 crewmembers. You can learn more about Sammy here.
