In autumn 2016, Hawk Mountain tallied 17,548 hawks in 1,106 hours of effort. The overall total was 6 percent below the 10-year average.

A new record was set for the Bald Eagle, 489, well above the prior record of 406 set in 2010. The best day for Bald Eagles occurred late in the season, Dec. 3, when 22 Bald Eagles flew past, representing half the migrants observed that day.

Nine of the 16 regularly recorded species showed below-average counts in 2016, including the American Kestrel, which was 50 percent below the 10-year average and Osprey 343, which was 33 percent below average.

On Dec. 1, the 407th bald eagle soared over North Lookout, breaking the record previously set in 2010. At the end of the fall migration count Dec. 15, the count stood at 489.

The bald eagle has increased steadily since the ban of DDT in 1972, leading to it being down-listed from Endangered to Threatened, and then finally removed from the Endangered Species List entirely in 2007.

A record 406 migrating bald eagles were counted during the duration of the 2010 Autumn Migration season. Hawk Mountain has seen improved numbers in recent years as nesting populations continue to increase throughout Pennsylvania, New England and eastern Canada.

Favorable winds in September boosted counts of Broad-winged Hawks in 2016, with 9,361 counted, 22 percent above the 10-year average of 7,683. The largest one-day count in 2016 coincided with the peak Broad-winged Hawk flight, with 3,066 hawks for the day, including 3,018 broadwings.

The 2,500-acre Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in the Kempton area in Berks and Schuylkill counties, is the world’s first refuge for birds of prey and is open to the public year-round by trail-fee or membership, which in turn supports the non-profit organization’s raptor conservation mission and local-to-global research, training, and education programs.

Information: hawkmountain.org, 610-756-6961. For information on bald eagles, go to the Raptorpedia Bald Eagle page.