Update From the 2021 Migration Crew

14 October 2021
And just like that, we are two-thirds of the way into the 2021 fall hawk watching season. This year marks our 35th anniversary of migration monitoring as HawkWatch International, and this season undoubtedly feels special. Our crews continue to diligently keep their eyes to the skies, counting each and every…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Corpus Christi

21 September 2021
Our Corpus Christi migration crew is entering their 7th week of counting and the skies have been busy with birds! The crew has counted nearly 25,000 Mississippi Kites and is still expecting more on the way. But, Broad-winged Hawks are unsurprisingly the site’s most numerous species so far. The crew…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Chelan Ridge

14 September 2021
During the final week of August, HWI biologists Dave Oleyar and Jesse Watson headed to north-central Washington to meet the crew and assist with getting the Chelan Ridge HawkWatch up and running. Over the next week the 5-person crew, Jesse and Dave, and our long-term partners at the U.S. Forest…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Bonney Butte

14 September 2021
Two members of our Long-term Monitoring and Community Science team, Dave Oleyar and Jesse Watson, made the trip up to both of our Pacific Northwest sites in late August to prepare for the season. For Bonney Butte, set up was relatively easy, with just the wall tent and trapping arena…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Grand Canyon

09 September 2021
After setting up the Manzano’s crew, Tori Thorpe and Chris Butler drove down to the Grand Canyon HawkWatch. Because the Grand Canyon site is inside a National Park, the crew gets to stay in park housing. With “camp” all ready to go, that means that setup is a breeze. The…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Manzano Mountains

08 September 2021
On the 25th of August, HWI staff members Tori Thorpe and Chris Butler met with the Manzano Mountains migration crew members for the first time at Walt and Jennifer Lehman’s home. This couple generously stores a large portion of migration supplies during the off-season. Walt has also made most of…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Commissary Ridge

02 September 2021
This past week two HWI staff members, Jordan Herman and Steve Slater, along with Steve’s son Forest, helped the Commissary crew set up camp for the fall season. The morning of the 26th, staff and crew met up in Kemmerer to set up the PO Box and gather some food…

Meet the 2021 Crew: Goshute Mountains

01 September 2021
The Goshute Mountain migration crew is now on their third week of counting for the season. But in order to get started, the crew first had to go through a grueling hike up 9000 feet above sea level—all while carrying the essentials on their back. Once at the top, their…

Meet Iza

06 August 2021
At HawkWatch International (HWI), we usually start our education program with a question: how would you describe our ecosystem? Without skipping a beat, the first answers are often people, houses, concrete, and cars. To many students, human development is ubiquitous with the great outdoors. Green grass, shimmering lakes, and towering…

Closing the Ability Gap

05 August 2021
No two students learn the same, which means there is no one size fits all way of teaching. “It can be challenging for students to conform to rigid school standards, and as a result, some end up falling behind,” said HWI Educator Chris Butler. Students on the autism spectrum and…