About the HCF

The HCF Mission
 

The Hawk Cliff Foundation (HCF) was incorporated in 1996 as a non-profit organization of volunteers dedicated to the conservation of migratory raptors, passerines and Monarch butterflies of North America through scientific study, public education and appreciation of their fall migrations.

The HCF Today

Over the years the Hawk Cliff site has grown in popularity and today it is recognized as one of the prime fall migration hawk watching destinations in North America.

Every year hundreds of birders (and non-birders!) from Canada, the U.S. and other countries visit the site. Knowledgeable volunteers are always on hand to assist visitors with raptor identification and to raise public awareness on the subject of raptor migration.

At times Hawk Cliff has played host to special guest “hawk watchers” like world renowned raptor specialist and author Bill Clark and the late Roger Tory Peterson, a man who spent a lifetime devoted to the study of birds.

Today visitors to the site are often treated to large raptor flights and the onsite hawkwatchers are able to provide help with raptor identifications and answers to visitor questions. On the two main Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch weekends there are live bird demonstrations put on by members of the Hawk Cliff Banders association. There’s also an information table with photo displays, pamphlets, newsletters, raptor identification aids and a large message board with the daily and year- to-date counts posted.

Birders can normally expect to see some 15 different raptor species with typical count totals reaching several thousand birds per day. On a few exceptional occasions lucky visitors have witnessed the amazing spectacle of over 100,000 raptors of various species migrating past Hawk Cliff in a single day!

Other birders come to enjoy the many passerines and Monarchs that also pass Hawk Cliff on their journey to warmer climes.

Hawk Cliff has even served as a release site for rehabilitated raptors providing many an excited youngster their first close up view of a bird of prey.

If the HCF initiative for a new site is successful, Hawk Cliff will continue to be a unique and exciting destination for those wishing to enjoy the many wonders of raptors, passerines, Monarchs and their amazing migration.