State Line Hawk Watch

The New Jersey Section of the Palisades Interstate Park will coordinate a ten-week hawk watch at State Line Lookout in Alpine with the help of volunteers from local nature centers and Audubon Societies. The site is popular with local birders because it has easy access, offers the use of park facilities, including the Lookout Inn refreshment stand, and is on the flight path of migratory raptors. The State Line hawk watch will run from September 1 through November 7, 2010, during daylight hours pending volunteer availability.

Hundreds of hawk watches are run across the continent each fall to monitor the migration of raptors—birds of prey, including hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons—from their summer feeding grounds to their winter feeding grounds, journeys that take some of the birds across thousands of miles, from Canada to South America. The data collected at State Line’s hawk watch will be provided to the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA), which coordinates the hawk watches and compiles a database for researchers.

State Line Lookout (directions), at the highest point on the Palisades in New Jersey (530 feet above sea level), is particularly well situated as a hawk watch, with an expansive view from above the Hudson. The site is accessible by car from the northbound Palisades Interstate Parkway opposite Exit 3, as well as by bus and bicycle from the state line on U.S. Route 9W. “Lookout Inn,” a refreshment stand and gift shop, is open at the site.

The Park plans to staff the site with volunteer birders, who will rotate their work throughout the duration of the hawk watch. For more information or to register for a volunteer position with this program please call Christina Fehre at the park at 201 768-1360 ext. 107.