Q: Where do you get your funding?
A: The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is funded by the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the National Park Service, and donations from private individuals and corporations. Make a gift to the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory >

Q: Why are raptors important?
A: Raptors are at the top of the food chain, so their health depends on the health of the whole ecosystem below them. Declines in their populations can indicate a problem in the specific ecosystem that raptor species depend upon.

Q: What is migration?
A: Bird migration is the movement of a population between its wintering and breeding grounds.

Q: Do hawks feed on migration?
A: Most hawks do need to stop and hunt during the migration season. Ornithologists are just starting to learn about these "stopover" sites and their importance to a bird's survival. However, some long-distance migrant raptors, such as the Swainson's Hawks, may go for a month or more with no feeding while migrating from North America to South America. These birds survive this arduous trip on stored fat, which they build up before setting off.

Q: What kind of binoculars are best for watching hawks?
A: Seven, eight, or 10 by 40-to-50 allow for good magnification and let in enough light to see field marks. Better magnification is valuable, until it creates an image that is too dim or too shaky.

Q: What is the GGRO: a place? A group?
A: The Golden Gate Raptor Observatory is a project of the nonprofit Golden Gate National Parks Association with the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (National Park Service). The GGRO consists of three staff, three interns, and 250+ volunteers dedicated to the study of the raptor migration in the Marin Headlands. The place we conduct most of our studies is the Marin Headlands. Hawk Hill in the Headlands is the best place to observe the fall migration.

Q: Do you have a visitor center? Can we see hawks in captivity?
A: We do not have an "observatory", but the Marin Headlands Visitor Center, near Rodeo Lagoon, has a nice display about the migration and the avifauna of the Headlands. They do not have any captive hawks.

Q: What are the best field guides for hawks? Where can I get them?
A: Allen Fish's opinion on the best field guide is Peterson Guide to Hawks by William S. Clark and Brian Wheeler. Second best is Wheeler and Clark's Photographic Guide to North American Raptors. Also excellent is Hawks in Flight by Pete Dunne, David Sibley, and Clay Sutton. All three of these guides can be purchased at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center.

Q: Do they band or count hawks anywhere else?
A: There are many other hawk watches and banding stations around the world, but ours is unique due to a) the close working alliance between hawk counters and banders, and b) the great degree of volunteer involvement (50,000+ hours/year) and leadership. Cape May in New Jersey and Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania are both home to well-known hawk watches and banding sites.

Q: Is it legal to pick up and keep raptor feathers?
A: It is generally illegal to keep any native bird feathers. This policy is designed to prevent people from harming or interfering with raptors for the sake of their feathers. It also keeps feathers from becoming sellable. Native Americans are permitted to possess raptor feathers for spiritual use. Scientists and educators may obtain permits to keep feathers for their profession.

Q: What do you do with your data -- hawkwatch, banding, or telemetry?
A: The GGRO HawkWatch is a long-term project. In order to accurately reflect population trends we need many more years of data. At this point in time we can speculate about short-term population trends and correlate our data with other hawkwatch counts to look at larger trends. In the meantime, we share data with the USGS Biological Resource Division, the National Audubon Society, the Hawk Migration Association, and with others looking at raptor numbers and trends.

GGRO banding data are used to find out where the hawks that fly through the Headlands are going. Annual banding data are given to the USGS Bird Banding Lab, the California Department of Fish and Game, and others.

We make regular presentations of GGRO data to the Raptor Research Foundation, the American Ornithologists' Union, and other scientific groups; we also report regularly to the National Park Service, as well as to State and Federal Wildlife agencies. Finally, we report on all GGRO data in our annual newsletters, the Pacific Raptor Report and the Season Summary.