Thousands of Hawks Fly Over This Orange County Mountain Every Fall. Here’s How to See Them.
There is a migration happening over Orange County right now that is easy to miss for one very simple reason: a lot of it is happening hundreds or thousands of feet over your head.
At Mount Peter, just off Route 17A between Warwick and Greenwood Lake, volunteers have been standing on the same ridge for generations counting hawks as they move south for fall. This season, the count started September 2. By September 17, coordinator Ken Witkowski told Hudson Valley Happenings the watch had already logged 1,052 migrating raptors.
And this is the part worth knowing before you go: we are in the good part right now.
Witkowski said Mount Peter is in the peak of the Broad-winged Hawk migration. On the right day, the volunteers can count a few thousand birds. The best day so far this season was September 12, when 417 migrating raptors were recorded.
Bald Eagles are showing up almost daily. Eleven raptor species had already been recorded by September 17, with more expected later in the season.
What to know before you drive up
Bring binoculars. Witkowski was very clear about that one. Sometimes birds pass low enough to be obvious. More often, they are higher than a first-time visitor expects, and a pair of binoculars is the difference between seeing a speck and realizing the speck is a hawk.
The good news is that this is not a giant hiking commitment disguised as birding. New York State says the Mount Peter Hawk Watch Trailway is open year-round and free. The observation area sits roughly 150 feet from the parking area, and the state property itself is only five acres. Stay on the marked public-access trails because nearby land is private.
Fyke Nature Association currently lists the watch from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through November 15. Mid-September is especially good for Broad-winged Hawks, Osprey and Bald Eagles. Later in October and November, the mix shifts toward Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, with the possibility of a Golden Eagle.
The people who keep looking up
The watch traces back to Stiles Thomas, who founded Mount Peter in the late 1950s. Fyke Nature Association describes it as the oldest all-volunteer hawk watch in the country and the third-oldest hawk watch overall. Jim Wright, who supplied the photographs for this story, remembers seeing his first Broad-winged Hawk migration at Mount Peter long before he met Thomas.
That history is part of what makes the place feel bigger than a scenic overlook. People have been coming back to this ridge, season after season, to look at the sky and write down what passes through it.
The data matters. Long-running hawk-watch counts help reveal changes in migration and raptor populations over time. But you do not need to know a Sharp-shinned Hawk from a Red-shouldered Hawk to go.
You can just show up with binoculars, stand next to people who do know, and start looking in the same direction.
Plan your visit
Mount Peter Hawk Watch is in Warwick, Orange County, just off Route 17A near Kain Road. The 2026 count runs through November 15. Admission is free.
Photos by Jim Wright. Current 2026 count and visitor guidance supplied directly by Mount Peter coordinator Ken Witkowski. Access information checked against the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and Fyke Nature Association.
