Fieldwork at Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch has begun! We have some exciting changes this year at the northernmost count site in the world. Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch fans may notice that our team is larger this year than in the past. Thanks to support from our partners at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, we’re conducting dual counts this year and next to better inform past data and estimate detection rates, which can be used to improve our yearly count estimates. This addition will improve our research on the Alaskan migrants we see fly by, most notably Golden Eagles, which comprise nearly 40% of the count at Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch!
Let us introduce you to our incredible team monitoring the migration this spring!
Timothy Swain
Timothy Swain is from Massachusetts and recently graduated from the University of California San Diego with a bachelor’s in Ecology, Behavior, and Evolution. Ever since he checked out a birding guide from the library when he was seven, he has been an avid birder and naturalist. He loves the American West and its ecology, especially assemblages in transitional habitats between elevations, so he is looking forward to experiencing the mountains of Alaska and how raptors navigate the landscape. He has investigated warbler use of urban plantings for an honors research project, worked with deer and assessed grassland health in Texas, and he is excited about his first hawkwatching season! His favorite raptor is the Swainson’s Hawk, and he is hoping to see some of the mysterious Alaskan population migrate past Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch. In his free time, he birds, plays video games, and listens to pop and R&B.
Emma Greenberg
Emma graduated from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry with a bachelor’s in Wildlife Science in 2023 and has been traveling for fieldwork since. They worked in the forests of NY capturing small mammals, in the sandbars of North Dakota studying Piping Plovers, in the gorgeous Georgia creeks surveying for freshwater mussels, and in the mountains of California looking for both owls and frogs. This season, Emma is excited to explore Alaska and all it has to offer and is especially excited to hopefully see the northern lights for the first time. In Emma’s downtime, they can be normally found in nature birding, kayaking, or herping, or inside playing board games and D&D. Emma’s favorite raptor is a toss-up between a Black Vulture or a Barred Owl, as some they worked with in rehab had the best personalities.
Dan Stoken
Originally from Pennsylvania, Dan moved to Montana and graduated from the University of Montana with a BS in Wildlife Biology in 2018. He has worked a variety of avian field jobs across the western United States, including point counts and many raptor surveys, most recently serving as a counter for the Jewel Basin HawkWatch in Montana last fall. This season, he is looking forward to watching the spectacle of spring migration unfold in Alaska for the first time. He’s also excited to see many Rough-legged Hawks, his favorite raptor. In his free time, Dan enjoys birding, playing acoustic guitar, running, hiking, and watching the occasional football or hockey game.
Cienna Semsak
Cienna graduated in 2019 with a BS in Zoology from Colorado State University. After exploring various animal-related career paths, she settled on wildlife biology and has worked all over the United States. Cienna spent last summer working in Glacier National Park with the wildlife program as a bat and bird technician. She oversaw the eagle program for the east side of the park and got to help the hawkwatch up at Mount Brown at the end of the season. She is looking forward to expanding her raptor ID knowledge this season. Cienna mostly hikes, skis, and does photography in her spare time. She is a lover of all things outdoors and has a soft spot for goshawks!
Thank you to our partners who make this work possible at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
If you need help planning your trip or are curious about how the count is going throughout the season, join our “Friends of Gunsight Mountain HawkWatch” Facebook group! You can chat directly with our crew and other bird nerds who are excited about the spring count.
This blog was written by Sammy Riccio, our Communications Manager, as well as our 2025 crewmembers. You can learn more about Sammy here.
