Our History

Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch

The Hawk Cliff migration site was first “discovered” by the late W. E. Saunders of London while birding in the Port Stanley area in southern Elgin County. Numerous visits to the site during the fall months showed that large flights of raptors passed west along the north shore of Lake Erie as they migrated out of Canada.

Eventually the Hawk Cliff site was incorporated into a new agreement area in cooperation with the Yarmouth Township municipality.

The designated area included the one kilometre section of Regional Road 22 south of Regional Road 24 where it dead ends at the cliff overlooking Lake Erie. The land on either side of this agreement area was and still is privately owned.

Then in 1974 the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) was formed to advance the knowledge of raptor migration and help establish a rational basis for future monitoring of raptor populations across the continent. To this end HMANA provided standard forms and protocols for recording raptor migration counts at the various hawk watches across North America, including the Hawk Cliff hawkwatch.

Today the Hawk Cliff Foundation supports the ongoing migration monitoring at the official Hawk Cliff hawkwatch. It's our mission to ensure this important undertaking can be a part of the local heritage for years to come.