Back when the Goshute Mountains HawkWatch first began, the ridgetop housed nearly a small village of people—including a chef! These days we have just a crew of five at the top (check them out below), and visitors are asked to camp at the bottom of the mountain. For one night, however, you’ll have the rare chance to spend the night camping at the top! On Saturday, October 17th, right after Wings Across the West, we’re hosting a trip to the Goshute Mountains HawkWatch so you can learn from our expert staff and have a memorable evening under the stars. Click here to learn more and register: https://hawkwatch.org/event/40th-anniversary-field-trip-goshute-mountains-hawkwatch/
Thank you to our friends and partners at the Nevada Bureau of Land Management and the Nevada Energy Foundation for supporting the site.
Francesco Simeone
Originally from New Jersey, Francesco has been working with raptors and avian species for ten years since completing his Wildlife Conservation degree at Cal Poly Humboldt. After five seasons of hawkwatching (including at the Goshute Mountains, Commissary Ridge, and Gunsight Mountain HawkWatches) and various avian positions, Frank has spent the last five years working as a senior field biologist in NY State. He is extremely excited to be returning to a full season of hawkwatching, especially at the Goshute Mountains HawkWatch! Traveling and backpacking throughout the country and world for unique natural areas and raptor conservation is all the fun he needs. His favorite raptors are the American Goshawk and the Long-crested Eagle of South Africa.
Doris Rodriguez
Doris comes from the sunny coast of Long Beach, California. After acquiring her degree, she quickly picked up and soared into new adventures—including banding songbirds on the West Coast, working with Critically Endangered seabird species on Kaua’i, crashing through the dense forests of the Sierras for Spotted Owls and Goshawks, and banding raptors in the Midwestern flyway with Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory and along the Pacific Coast flyway with Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. This fall will be her second migration season with HWI, previously serving at the Commissary Ridge HawkWatch. Doris’s has also spent two springs with HWI, as the technician on HWI’s CARES team studying American Kestrels and Western Screech-Owls. In her free time, Doris ventures out on hikes, rock climbs, and photographs delightful memories. Her favorite raptor is the Rough-legged Hawk!
Christian Machen
Originally from California, Christian recently graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental, Soil, and Water Science, where he worked with Northern Saw-whet and Eastern Screech-Owls. This season, he is excited to gain more experience on the diurnal side of raptor science, gaining new skills and honing existing ones! He is most excited to get some good looks at American Goshawks. In his free time, Christian likes to be outdoors with his friends birding, camping, or just hanging around. His favorite raptor is the Eastern Screech-Owl.
Lauren Stanfa
Lauren grew up in North Carolina and graduated from NC State University with a B.S. in Zoology and minors in Applied Ecology, Environmental Science, and History. She has always loved nature and learning more about it, but truly found her passion for birds of prey in high school after volunteering with a local raptor organization. She’s traveled wherever the wind takes her to build her avian research skills, including studying abroad in Bhutan, researching monk parakeet behavior in Texas, monitoring raptor migration in Idaho, and participating in a wide array of raptor research projects at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Her favorite raptor is the Bearded Vulture, but she loves all the other vultures too! She’s looking forward to seeing western raptors again and getting to spend the season living in a beautiful place with other people passionate about raptor conservation! Her hobbies include playing volleyball or tabletop games such as Magic: The Gathering and Wingspan.
Leif Charbonneau
Leif is from Grafton, Massachusetts, and recently graduated from Plymouth State University with a degree in environmental biology. He’s always loved being outside: fishing, hiking, strumming his guitar, and recently, birding. His time on a trail crew with Rocky Mountain Youth Corps and a salt marsh restoration crew with Mass Audubon made him realize how much he loves being on a team in a field work setting. While working at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, he began to appreciate birds for their elegance and the incredible migrations they make every spring and fall. This led him to volunteer at Wachusett Mountain for the Eastern Mass HawkWatch, as well as bird almost daily. He is looking forward to contributing to data collection on raptor migration this fall, as well as gaining experience in more raptor ID and raptor trapping/banding. His favorite raptor is the Great Horned Owl.
If you need help planning your trip or are curious about how the count is going during the season, join our “Friends of Goshute Mountains 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.
