Chimney Rock Hawk Watch

The Chimney Rock Hawk Watch accessible via a paved trail from the parking lot at the end of Miller Ln. off of Vosseller Ave. just north of Rt. 22 in Martinsville was started in 1990 by Christopher Aquila. Chris coordinates a group of birders which staff the site from September 1 to November 15. You can learn a lot by just standing around and listening to them call out sightings.
Maps: Martinsville, Washington Valley Park

Totals *
thru 1996 1998 2003 2006 2007 2008

Sep 8 108 550 178 119 148 112

Sep 15 1,574 4,354 357 754 1,269 990‡

Sep 23 26,157 6,410 1,121 3,816 5,600 8,634

Sep 30 27,399† 12,862 2,768 6,843 6,486 9,405

Season 31,564 18,727 6,214 9,835 9,366

* less vultures
† In 1996 there were 17,491 broadwings sighted on Sept. 20, 1996
‡ The three highest days of the year on Sept. 16, 17 & 18 (with 4,484 on the 18th) brought the 2008 total to almost 8,000.

Links:
Main Chimney Rock Hawk Watch Pages at:
chimneyrock.s5.com and www.rci.rutgers.edu/~magarell/chimney_rock/
Current Counts at Hawk Migration Assiciation of North America's (HMANA) hawkcount.org (NJWMP at Chimney Rock)

The Hawk Watch is at the end of Miller Ln. off of Vosseller Ave. in the eastern part of Washington Valley Park

Median hawks per day (1997-2001) Distribution by time of day
(For a day with 100 sightings)

Total Sightings

Year	Total Raptors
2007	9,411
2006	10,060
2005	8,693
2004	10,635
2003	6,214
2002	13,241
2001	9,763
2000	28,379
1999	23,075
1998	18,727
1997	18,127
1996	31,564
1995	19,545
1994	17,184
1993	20,727

Current Count at chimneyrock.s5.com

5 Year average sightings per day (1997-2001)

Week	Median/ Day	Low	High
Sep. Wk1	26	2	203
Sep. Wk2	126	1	1933
Sep. Wk3	213	8	7450
Sep. Wk4	194	0	6163
Oct. Wk1	145	3	566
Oct. Wk2	77	1	448
Oct. Wk3	106	0	492
Oct. Wk4	44	0	419
Nov. Wk1	29	0	156
Nov. Wk2	7	0	354

Numbers vary widely depending on
weather. see table to right.

Counts by Wind Direction (Birds/Hr.)

W	65
WNW	92
NW	103
NNW	146
N	19
NNE	16
NE	159
E	285
SE	4
SSE	4
S	4
SSW	2
SW	6
WSW	34

(Weather)

Counts by Species: (Source: Species Records Page and
Flight Distribution at Rutgers)

Species	Highest	2000	Peak Dates	Peak Hrs.
Broad-winged	24656	21588	9/14-9/25	9-5
Sharp-shinned	4597	3303	9/24-10/19	10-6
Am. Kestrel	2000	1514	9/23-10/19	10-6
Red-tailed	908	127	10/29-11/10	10-4
Osprey	945	598	9/15-9/28	9-6
Cooper's	564	395	10/10-10/19	10-5
N. Harrier	474	199	9/13-10/10	10-5
Red-shouldered	401	109	10/10-11/2	10-3
Merlin	338	277	9/13-10/11	11-7
Bald Eagle	110	94	9/13-9/20	9-6
Peregrine Falcon	113	64	10/3-10/10	10-5
Golden Eagle	18	9	10-19-22	12-5
N. Goshawk	15	1	10/20-11/7
Rough-legged	3

One day count distribuition for Sep. 15-30 (Av. 1997-2001)

Count	Days
1-19	1
20-49	2
50-99	2
100-199	3
200-499	2
500-999	3
1000-1999	2
2000-7500	1
Probabliliy
1-99	1/3
100-499	1/3
500+	1/3

Other Hawk Watch Sites:
Counts are for Fall only.
See map at: www.rci.rutgers.edu/~magarell/chimney_rock/about_cr.html

Site Location Median
Fall
Totals 2002
Total

Cape May Cape May, NJ 50,000 35,267

Hawk Mountain Kempton, PA 20,000 21,708

Chimney Rock Martinsville, NJ 19,000 13,241

Monclair Monclair, NJ 12,000 11,340

Militia Hill Fort Washington State Park, PA 9,000

Wildcat Ridge Hibernia, NJ 9,000 7,011

Racoon Ridge Blairstown (Hemlock Glen), NJ 15,000 * 4,238

Scotts Mountain, Merrill Creek Washington, NJ 9,000 8,737

Sunrise Mountain Stokes State Forest, Branchville, NJ * 4,678

Bake Oven Knob Germansville, PA 20,778

(Median 1998-2002)
* Racoon Ridge only counted for 9 days in Sept. 2002
* Sunrise Mountain only had counts for 13 days in Sept. 2002
Some sites keep Spring totals also (Feb-May) which are about 1/3 of Fall totals.
Other New Jersey sites at: New Jersey Sites, Hawk Migration Assiciation of North America (HMANA)
and the JerseyBirds mail list.

Scherman-Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary (New Jersey Audubon Society)
Bernardsville, (908) 766-5787

Bird Guides at: Cornell's All About Birds | The Hawk Conservancy Trust

Return to: Martinsville Information

last updated 14 Oct 2008