What an amazing season this year! The 2024 Smith Point Hawk Watch has brought us a total of 38,799 birds soaring through the skies. The month of September stole the show this year, with 4,824 birds seen on the 17th and an impressive 26,439 total for the month. So, who is our MVP this year? It’s the Broad-winged Hawk, spotted an incredible 28,495 times! We may not be seeing many raptors going forward with the seasons changing, but new visitors like massive flocks of migrating Snow Geese and amazing Sandhill Cranes are showing up, reminding us that there is always something new to see. A huge shoutout to our stellar hawk counter Bob, and our volunteers and hawk watchers who spent 799.5 hours watching the skies – talk about dedication! While 2023’s whopping 117,839 count may seem hard to top, this year showed an amazing variety of migrating birds, and we just can’t wait to see what next year brings us!