Pacific Raptor Report Fall 2024

PACIFIC RAPTOR1
In 2024, we’ll celebrate the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory’s (GGRO) 40th anniversary. Your
support over the years has allowed us to monitor the Pacific Flyway, and to produce science to
support the preservation of birds of prey.
Our work is made possible thanks to the collaboration among Golden Gate National Parks
Conservancy and National Park Service (NPS) staff and scientists, and our community of dedicated
volunteers and supporters. Thank you for doing your part for raptors over the years, and for
witnessing the migrations that converge here.
Hawk Hill. The home of the GGRO is a spectacular vista point perched above the Golden Gate
Bridge. It stands 920 feet high and a quarter mile from the tides of the Golden Gate, midway
between the western and eastern edges of the Marin Headlands. Carpeted in coastal chaparral and
capped with remnants of U.S. military history, Hawk Hill is home to the largest visible migration of
birds of prey known on the West Coast of North America—a window on the Pacific Flyway like no
other. Some of the raptors spotted over Hawk Hill may travel as far as Alaska and Argentina on
their annual migration cycle.
But Hawk Hill isn’t just for hawks. You can see the migration of many species here, from Vaux’s
Swifts to Band-tailed Pigeons, from humpback whales to monarch butterflies. Humans, too. All are
part of the Hawk Hill migration story.
One afternoon last November, while talking to Hawk Hill visitors about raptors, we started jotting
down some of their stories. We met a family from Georgia elated to see their first (Atlanta) falcon,
a six-year-old and his mom from Texas who practiced addition with the GGRO count board, two
brothers from Florida (one stationed at Travis Air Force Base) coming together for Thanksgiving,
and an East Bay executive who was partway through her goal to hike all the trails in the Golden
Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) in one year.
Over the following week, we chatted with visitors not just from the United States, but also from
Taiwan, India, Ireland, Mexico, France, and Canada. One family from southern England could even
see a Peregrine nest site from their backyard. Each conversation was fascinating, often enriched by
cool bird stories.
The GGNRA is a magnet for both local and international tourism, and isn’t tourism also a form of
migration? Migration takes many forms, but some locations seem to be crossroads for an
extraordinary amount of migration. Hawk Hill is one of these, a stopover site in ecology terms,
whether bird or butterfly or human.
We hope you’ll join us in celebrating our achievements over 40 years and looking ahead to the
future. Because of you, we can dream of our next 40 years and the good work ahead!
With gratitude,