Eyes on the Sky

Raptor Population Index

Annual Report 2009


Thank you for your interest in the Raptor Population Index Project (RPI). In January 2010, the Eyes on the Sky Annual Report 2009 was postal-mailed to donors, collaborators, and people interested in raptor conservation. To obtain a copy in PDF format, click here.



This Extended Annual Report provides in-depth information in seven sections that document in detail the progress and achievements of RPI during 2009. Please contact members of the RPI team for additional information.



Report content


1. RPI and the hawkwatching community

  • Migration monitoring site catalogue
  • New reports in HawkCount.org
  • Online outreach through our website and listserve


2. Migration ecology research and RPI

  • Spring counts reveal valid population trend estimates

  • Monitoring sites detect a substantial proportion of migrating ospreys

  • Widespread decline of the American Kestrel


3. RPI’s contribution to wildlife management and conservation

  • National and regional contributions

  • The Partners in Flight Leadership Award 2008

  • Population trends in near-real time


4. Consolidating the operation of RPI

  • What does “consolidation” mean? Why is it important?

  • Enhancing RPI’s conservation value and sustainability


5. Financial summary


6. Thanks to our sponsors!

  • Support raptor conservation and the RPI project


7. The RPI team

  • Steering Committee

  • Science Advisory Committee

  • Support staff

  • Contact us!



RPI AND THE HAWKWATCHING COMMUNITY


Migration monitoring site catalogue. HawkCount.org maintains a database of 000 active migration monitoring sites in North America. Most sites contributing data are located in the United States (000 sites in 33 states), followed by Canada (000 sites in 5 provinces), and Mexico (3 sites in one state).

Maintaining a current and constantly growing catalogue of locations is a challenge of central importance, as migration monitoring sites are perhaps the most frequently used point of access and distribution of migration count data. In 2009, Julie Tilden Monitoring Site Coordinator of the Hawk Migration Association of North America’s (HMANA) updated over 100 site profiles with expanded information on site histories, detailed descriptions of ecological and topographical features of the sites, contact information of the organizations and individuals operating them, photographs, and directions to access each site, among other features. Profiles also contain an inventory of the datasets stored in HawkCount.org, a summary table of count records per species, and specific map locations.


Table 1. Site Profile database development in HawkCount.org. Site Status: A=Active hawkwatch, X=Currently Inactive hawkwatch; Profile Content: C=Complete, (all data fields have been edited and updated); I=Incomplete, (one or more fields still must be edited); Profile Photos: C= Complete, (all photos uploaded and labeled); I=Incomplete, (still missing photos). If you would like to contribute updated information of your site, please contact Julie Tilden at tilden@hmana.org.


Site Name

State/Province

Site Status

Profile Content

Profile Photos

United States





Gunsight Mountain

AK

A

I

I

Borrego Valley

CA

A

C

C

Lagoon Valley

CA

X



Dinosaur Ridge

CO

A

I

I

Bald Peak

CT

X



Beelzebub Street

CT

X



Bent of the River

CT

X



Booth Hill

CT

A

I

I

Botsford Hill

CT

A

I

I

Briggs Hill

CT

A

C

I

Chestnut Hill

CT

A

C

I

East Shore Park

CT

A

I

I

Flat Hill

CT

A

C

C

Flirt Hill

CT

A

I

C

Good Hill

CT

X



Heritage Village

CT

X



Huntington State Park

CT

A

C

I

Johnnycake Mountain

CT

A

I

I

Larson Sanctuary

CT

A

I

I

Lighthouse Point

CT

A

I

C

Maltby Lakes

CT

X



Middle School

CT

A

I

I

Osborne Hill

CT

X



Peak Mountain

CT

X

C

I

Pine Mountain

CT

X



Poquonock

CT

A

I

I

Quaker Ridge

CT

A

C

C

Southbury Training School Farm

CT

X



Taft School

CT

X



Taine Mountain

CT

X



Whippoorwill Hill

CT

X



White Memorial Foundation

CT

X



Ashland Nature Center

DE

A

C

C

Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch

DE

A

C

C

White Clay Creek State Park-Carpenter Recreation Center

DE

A

I

I

Curry Hammock State Park

FL

A

I

I

Guana Reserve

FL

A

I

I

Hitchcock Nature Center

IA

A

C

C

Lucky Peak

ID

A

I

I

Illinois Beach State Park

IL

A

C

I

Cadillac Mountain

ME

A

C

C

Harpswell/Casco Bay

ME

A

C

I

Bradbury Mountain

ME

A

C

C

Cromwell Valley Park

MD

A

I

I

Fort Smallwood Park

MD

A

C

C

Manchester Ridges

MD

X



Oliver Street Studios

MD

X



Turkey Point

MD

A

C

C

Washington Monument State Park

MD

A

I

I

Alander Mountain

MA

X



Congamond Plains

MA

A

C

I

Blueberry Hill

MA

A

I

C

Shatterack Mountain

MA

A

I

I

Mount Tom

MA

A

C

I

Pilgrim Heights

MA

A

C

C

Bare Mountain

MA

A

C

C

Barre Falls

MA

A

C

I

Mount Wachussett

MA

A

C

C

Mount Watatic

MA

A

I

C

Pinnacle Rock

MA

A

C

C

Plum Island

MA

A

C

C

Whitefish Point

MI

A

C

C

DRHW Humburg Marina

MI

X



DRHW Lake Erie MetroPark (Wavepool)

MI

X



DRHW Marina Point

MI

X



DRHW Power Plant

MI

X



DRHW Woodruff:

MI

X



DRHW Campau Rd

MI

X



DRHW Lake Erie MetroPark

MI

A

C

C

DRHW Pointe Mouillee State Game Area

MI

A

C

C

Manitou Island

MI

A

C

C

Meadowbrook Migration Area

MI

X



Muskegon

MI

A

C

C

Port Crescent Hawk Watch

MI

A

I

I

Port Huron

MI

X



Straits of Mackinaw

MI

X



Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory

MN

A

C

C

West Skyline Hawkcount

MN

A

C

I

Goshute Mountains

NV

A

I

I

Pack Monadnock

NH

A

C

C

Little Round Top

NH

A

C

C

Carter Hill Observatory

NH

A

C

C

Peter Wood Hill

NH

X



Peaked Hill

NH

X



Interlakes Elementary School

NH

A

C

C

Cape May

NJ

A

C

C

Chimney Rock Hawk Watch

NJ

A

I

I

East Point Hawkwatch

NJ

A

I

I

Kittatinny Mountain

NJ

A

I

I

Montclair Hawk Lookout

NJ

A

C

I

NJAMP at Duke Farms

NJ

X



Picatinny Peak

NJ

A

I

I

Raccoon Ridge

NJ

A

C

C

Reed's Beach Autumn Hawk Watch

NJ

A

I

I

Sandy Hook Migration Watch

NJ

A

C

I

Scott's Mountain

NJ

A

C

C

Sparta Migration Watch

NJ

X



State Line Hawkwatch

NJ

A

I

I

Sunrise Mountain

NJ

A

I

I

Wildcat Ridge

NJ

A

C

I

Sandias

NM

A

I

I

Manzanos

NM

A

C

I

Braddock Bay

NY

A

C

I

Chestnut Ridge

NY

A

C

C

Derby Hill Bird Observatory

NY

A

C

I

Fire Island

NY

A

C

C

Franklin Mt NW

NY

X



Franklin Mt.

NY

A

C

I

Hamburg Hawk Watch

NY

A

I

I

Hook Mountain

NY

A

I

I

I-84 Overlook

NY

A

I

I

Johnson City Hawk Watch

NY

A

I

I

Kestrel Haven

NY

A

C

I

Lenoir Wildlife Sanctuary

NY

A

C

C

Marine Nature Study Area

NY

A

I

I

Mohonk Preserve

NY

A

I

I

Mount Peter

NY

A

C

C

Ripley Hawk Watch

NY

A

C

C

Summitville Hawkwatch

NY

A

I

I

DOAS Franskevicz Road

NY

A

I

I

DOAS Horse Farm

NY

A

I

I

DOAS Lang Road

NY

A

I

I

Bullhead Mountain

NC

A

C

C

Big Bald

NC

A

C

I

Mahogany Rock

NC

A

C

C

Mount Pisgah

NC

A

I

I

Parkway Lenoir

NC

A

I

C

Pea Island NWR

NC

A

I

I

Phoenix Mountain

NC

A

I

I

Pilot Mountain State Park

NC

A

C

C

Bonney Butte

OR

A

C

I

Allegheny Front

PA

A

C

C

Bake Oven Knob

PA

A

C

C

Blue Mountain Rte 183

PA

A

C

I

Brady's Bend

PA

A

C

C

BroadwingSEPT-Buckingham

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Core Creek

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Lake Nockamixon

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Lehigh

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Peace Valley

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Pipersville

PA

X



BroadwingSEPT-Pleasant Valley

PA

X



Council Cup

PA

A

I

I

Cove Mountain

PA

A

I

I

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary

PA

A

C

C

Hopewell Fire Tower

PA

A

I

I

Jack's Mountain

PA

A

C

C

Kirkridge

PA

A

I

I

Lehigh Gap Hawkwatch

PA

A

C

I

Little Gap

PA

A

I

I

Meadowood Bird Observatory

PA

A

I

I

Militia Hill

PA

A

C

C

Niskey Hill Cemetery

PA

X



Presque Isle

PA

A

C

C

Rose Tree Park

PA

A

C

C

Second Mountain

PA

A

C

C

Stone Mt.

PA

A

C

I

Tuscarora Summit

PA

A

I

I

Tussey Mountain

PA

A

C

C

Waggoner's Gap

PA

A

C

C

Caesar’s Head

SC

A

I

I

Congaree Bluffs

SC

A

I

I

Glassy Mountain

SC

A

I

I

ICBP Hack Box

SC

A

I

I

North Tibwin

SC

A

I

I

Trezavant's Landing

SC

A

I

I

Tara Woods East Collierville

TN

A

I

I

Bentsen Rio Grande Valley State Park

TX

A

C

C

Courtney Farm

TX

X



Corpus Christi Migration Project

TX

A

I

I

Smith Point

TX

A

I

I

Putney Mountain

VT

A

C

C

Bear Mountain Farm

VA

A

C

C

Candler Mountain

VA

A

I

I

Carvins Cove

VA

A

I

I

College Creek

VA

A

C

I

Harvey's Knob

VA

A

C

C

Hughes River Gap

VA

A

I

I

Kiptopeke Hawkwatch

VA

A

C

I

Rockfish Gap Hawk Watch

VA

A

I

I

Rocky Knob

VA

A

I

I

Short Hill Mountain

VA

A

I

I

Snickers Gap

VA

A

C

I

Prairie Ridge Migration Watch

WA




Hanging Rock Tower

WV

A

C

C

Concordia University Hawkwatch

WI

A

C

C

Chequamegon Bay

WI

X



Eagle Valley

WI

A

I

I






Canada





Mount Lorette

AB

?



Kitsilano

BC

X



Rocky Point Bird Observatory

BC

?



Pembina Valley

MB

A

I

I

St Adolphe hawkwatch

MB

X



Whytewold hawkwatch

MB

X



Beamer Conservation Area

ON

A

C

C

Cranberry Marsh

ON

A

I

I

Hawk Cliff

ON

A

C

C

High Park

ON

A

I

I

Holiday Beach

ON

A

C

C

Innisfree

ON

A

I

I

Iriquois Shoreline

ON

A

I

I

Thunder Cape Bird Observatory

ON

A

I

I

Eagle Crossing Southwest

QC

A

I

I

Field of Grand Metis

QC

A

I

I

Montreal West Island Hawkwatch

QC

A

I

I

Observatoire d’oiseaux de Tadoussac

QC

A

C

I

Plateau de Beaupre

QC

X








Mexico





Chavarrillo

VER

A

I

I

Tlacotalpan

VER

A

I

I

Veracruz River of Raptors

VER

A

I

I






Costa Rica





Kekoldi

CR

A

I

I


New reports in HawkCount.org. Jason Sodergren, HMANA’s database specialist, created new bar graphs to illustrate the timing of spring and autumn migration per species. These charts illustrate the weekly progression of each species’ migration for each site and hawkwatchers can plan their visits to coincide with the peak of one or multiple species.


Figure 1. Seasonal timing of migration of Holiday Beach Migration Observatory, Ontario, Canada.



The seasonal timing of migration, termed “migration phenology” by scientists, is a feature of the annual cycle that is influenced by variation in weather and climate. The phenology of numerous other processes in nature, such as the spring “greening” of forests, flowering and fruiting events, the flight seasons of butterflies and moths, and many others, is the subject of numerous nation-wide monitoring programs to track the effects of long-term change in global climate. We foresee that the migration phenology of hawks will soon become another subject of study by citizen and professional scientists that relies on the use of migration counts.


Online outreach through our website and listserve. Jason maintains and regularly updates the RPI web site, which contains numerous papers and information on RPI directed to different audiences. He also manages BirdHawk, HMANA’s Hawk Watching Exchange. This University of Arizona-based daily listserve contains summaries of daily reports submitted to HawkCount.org and numerous discussions related to raptors and monitoring. At the height of the spring migration season, BirdHawk distributes summaries of up to 47 monitoring sites in North America and well over 100 sites in the autumn.



MIGRATION ECOLOGY RESEARCH AND RPI


Spring migration counts reveal valid population trend estimates. Scientists have demonstrated that migration counts are an effective monitoring tool. This statement, however, is based on extensive work using autumn counts. To address the question of how useful are spring migration counts to estimate population trends, Chris Farmer, Senior Research Biologist at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary (HMS) and Jeff Smith, Science Director at HawkWatch International (HWI) recently compared the counts of seven spring sites to those of seven autumn sites and found that spring counts are indeed a valid tool for estimating population trends, perhaps revealing changes in non-breeding season survival rather than changes in breeding season productivity. Spring counts are more concordant with autumn counts in the Northeast and the Southwest than they are in the Great Lakes Region, suggesting greater variation in seasonal representation of populations in the latter region. Spring counts are also of special importance for estimating trends for two species, Rough-legged and Red-shouldered Hawks, which are less common in autumn than in spring counts. Spring migration monitoring sites, however, are fewer across the continent and have substantial geographic coverage gaps; the authors recommend that the hawkwatching community establish additional sites.


Table 2. Recent regional patterns in population trends across seven spring and seven autumn watchsites from the United States. Trends from the Southwest region are estimated from one spring and one autumn site, those of the Great Lakes region come from two spring and two autumn sites, and the Northeast regional trends are estimated from four spring and four autumn sites. Decrease means that statistically significant declines (most likely not due to chance) were found at the majority of sites, with no significant increases whereas Increase means that most sites show significant increases with no significant decreases. Stable/Decrease=no significant decreases at more than one-half of the sites and significant increases and vice versa for Stable/Increase. Stable (+/-)= no significant trends and a mix of positive and negative estimates; Variable means that at least one significant increase and one significant decrease; n/a = too uncommon in region to support trend analysis. Modified from Farmer and Smith, in press, Journal of Raptor Research.

Southwest

Great Lakes

Northeast

Species

Spring

Autumn

Spring

Autumn

Spring

Autumn

Osprey

Increase†

Increase

Stable/Increase

Stable/Increase

Stable/Increase

Increase

Bald Eagle

n/a

n/a

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Northern Harrier

Stable (-)

Stable (-)

Increase

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Stable (-)

Increase

Decrease

Stable (+/-)

Stable/Increase

Variable

Cooper’s Hawk

Stable (+)

Increase

Stable/Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Northern Goshawk

n/a

n/a

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Increase

Stable (+/-)

Stable/Decrease

Broad-winged Hawk

n/a

Increase

Stable (+/-)

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Rough-legged Hawk

n/a

n/a

Stable (+/-)

Decrease

Stable (+/-)

n/a

Red-shouldered Hawk

n/a

n/a

Variable

Stable (-)

Stable/Increase

Stable/Increase

Red-tailed Hawk

Stable (+)

Increase

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Decrease

Variable

Swainson’s Hawk

Increase

Stable (+)

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Golden Eagle

Stable (-)

Decrease

Increase

Stable/Increase

Increase

Increase

American Kestrel

Stable (-)

Stable (+)

Stable/Decrease

Stable/Increase

Decrease

Decrease

Merlin

n/a

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Prairie Falcon

Stable (+)

Stable (+)

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Peregrine Falcon

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Increase

Black Vulture

n/a

n/a

n/a

n/a

Stable (+)

Increase

Turkey Vulture

Stable (+)

Stable (+)

Increase

Increase

Stable (+/-)

Increase


Monitoring sites detect a substantial proportion of migrating ospreys. In collaboration with several researchers, Chris Farmer led a study that analyzed the tracks of migrating ospreys fitted with satellite transmitters. Hawkwatchers have for a long time asked this key question: How many of the migrants flying over a region can be detected at a monitoring site? Chris and his team compared the tracks 57 of ospreys to the location autumn monitoring sites and estimated the proportion of them that were likely to be detected based on their distance from observation points. The “migration path” method estimated that a detection rate between 12-23% across the continent, with much higher probabilities in Northeastern sites. Each of the migrating ospreys had an 8-20% probability of being detected at one or more sites. The second method (called “Brownian Bridge Movement Model”), also found variable regional detection rates, with those of Northeastern sites higher than Midwestern and Northwestern sites. The striking difference is that detection rates of Northeastern sites were nearly 6 times higher than the remaining locations, and that sites in this region could detect slightly more than one-third of the migrating ospreys. This paper is under review in The Auk.


Widespread decline of the American Kestrel. Hawk Mountain’s Chris Farmer and HawkWatch International’s Jeff Smith recently published a paper documenting widespread declines in migration counts of American Kestrels in North America. In the December 2009 issue of the Journal of Raptor Research, a special volume with numerous papers related to the ecology and conservation of the American Kestrel, Farmer and Smith report kestrel migration counts declining at 16 sites across the continent, at rates that vary between 0.4 to 11.7% per year. Other papers in the same volume address the possible reasons for this decline, apparently a combination of factors that include drought in the intermountain west, habitat loss, and perhaps increased predation by Cooper’s Hawks and exposure to West Nile Virus in the east.


* Publications listed in the text can be found in the Publications section of the RPI web site (http://www.rpi-project.org/)



RPI’S CONTRIBUTION TO WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION


National and regional contributions. RPI has contributed information from its 2008 book State of North America’s birds of prey to the North American Bird Conservation Initiative’s report State of the Birds, United States of America 2009 (http://www.stateofthebirds.org/).

The State of the Birds is a document that summarizes the status of bird communities by ecoregion, presents a synthesis of the threats to birds by major ecological group, and highlights success stories such as the recovery of endangered species such as the Bald Eagle and the Peregrine Falcon. This report honors the contribution of partnerships, citizen science, and collaborative, scientifically sound monitoring in the conservation of birds, the mechanisms that make RPI possible.

At a regional scale, RPI continues to be active in the Northeastern Coordinated Bird Monitoring Partnership, which recently published its Northeast Monitoring Handbook, with contributions by RPI support staff and committee members. Another product of this partnership in 2009 is a paper in the Proceedings of the Fourth International Partners in Flight Conference, where HMANA’s Ernesto Ruelas presented a summary of continental-scale raptor population trends and RPI achievements in a document directed to the wildlife management and conservation community.


The Partners in Flight Leadership Award 2008. RPI’s contribution to raptor conservation was publicly recognized by the Partners in Flight, an international coalition of government agencies, academic institutions, and non-government organizations. This Leadership Award was presented in March 2009 to RPI Partners HMANA, HMS, and HWI, for “encouraging standardization of North American hawk watches, centralizing data storage, regularly analyzing population trends with advanced statistical methods, and widely disseminating trend results to managers and the public.” (http://www.partnersinflight.org/awards/2008awards.htm)


Population trends of raptors in near-real time. The RPI web site has a new feature that offers a glimpse of a near-future development: the ability to generate trend estimates in real time. In 2009, HMANA’s Jason Sodergren “connected” a database of the results presented in State of North America’s birds of prey to an online tool where users can select a species, a locality, or multiple species and localities, and generate population trend estimates and graphs.



RPI’s aim of updating population trends periodically is now in the works. RPI partners are developing a tool capable of generating these trends in near-real time. Such a tool will address user queries by (1) collecting data directly from HawkCount.org, (2) analyzing the data in our system, and (3) delivering its results back to the user as quantitative output illustrated with trend graphs. What does “near-real time” mean? Many monitoring sites submit their migration counts to HawkCount.org at the end of each count day. However, for logistical reasons, many sites that operate away from internet access or have limited human resources are only able to complete these data submissions at the end of the field season.


Will those online population trend estimates be as reliable as the ones used in State of North America’s birds of prey? We expect these population trend estimates be as statistically precise as the ones used in RPI publications. The reports will continue to rely on the datasets available in HawkCount.org and the continued collaboration of migration monitoring sites.



CONSOLIDATING THE OPERATION OF RPI


What does “consolidating” mean? Why is it important? The bird conservation community is organized in subgroups that reflect taxonomic or ecologic features. Some groups are easy to identify, such as “landbirds,” “waterfowl,” “shorebirds,” “seabirds,” and “waterbirds” and these groupings reflect common methods to track their populations (e.g. the use of Breeding Bird Surveys and Christmas Bird Counts to monitor landbirds) and their ecosystem affinities (e.g. wetlands for waterbirds).

Raptors are sometimes included in the landbirds group, although researchers have shown that many of the methods to monitor and manage the populations of passerines and near-passerines do not apply to falcons, hawks, and vultures. The fact that they occupy a variety of terrestrial, coastal, and even aquatic ecosystems complicates matters further.

This leaves raptors marginally covered, and a vacant “niche” in the nation-wide or continental-scale survey to track their status. RPI now fills this position, and the partners are interested in sustaining its operations over long-term.


Enhancing RPI’s conservation value and sustainability. Our goal is for RPI to effectively serve the conservation and hawk watching communities now and in the future. Among other things, that will require timely reporting of raptor population trends online on HawkCount.org and elsewhere. To that end, RPI welcomes Bird Studies Canada (BSC), as a new partner. The expertise of BSC’s conservation professionals in generating population trends from more than 20 stations in the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network and communicating results online is directly relevant to fulfilling RPI’s goals.

Meeting those goals also involves developing sustainable resources to continue to build and enhance HawkCount.org and to support staff and infrastructure to operate RPI as an ongoing raptor monitoring program. In addition to the generous support of sponsors listed below, the RPI partners thank the US Fish and Wildlife Service-Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act for funding our program over the past 2 years (2007-2009). A new 3:1 challenge Legacy Grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) will help support HawkCount.org and RPI’s continuing development for two more years (2009-2011). Please help us secure the future of HawkCount.org and RPI and meet the NFWF challenge.



FINANCIAL SUMMARY



RPI annual budget for 2009. The total expenditure by all the RPI partners in this project was $293,761. In-kind and cash contributions were provided by BSC ($30,000), HMANA ($113,550), HMS ($41,209), HWI ($9,287), and other partners, primarily committee members ($19,460) for a grand total of $213,506 in matching funds (a ratio of $2.66 dollars of the partners for each dollar received by foundations).




THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS 2004-2009


The RPI partners would like to thank our sponsors since we launched this initiative in 2004, and invite you to continue supporting this initiative!


American Bird Conservancy, NE Coordinated Bird Monitoring

Anonymous

Ajit I. Antony

George N. Appell

Doris Applebaum

Renee Baade

David W. Babington

Baillie Fund, Bird Studies Canada

Donald Barnes

Robert Barnhurst

Hugh Barr

John B. Bazuin, Jr.

Adele Bennett

Vic Berardi

Warner B. and Ann E. Berthoff

Keith L. Bildstein

Bird Studies Canada

Birding Club of Delaware City

William P. and Kate Wengler Blakeslee

Mark Blauer

Peter H. Bloom

Robert F. Boehm

Nicholas Bolgiano

Joan E. Boudreau

Tony Brake

David and Catherine A. Brandes

Terry L. Bronson

John M. Brotherton

Donald A. Bryant

Francis V. Budney

Anina E. Butler

Dana L Campbell

Philip J. Campbell

Francine Cantor

Cheri Carbon

Judith C. Cinquina

Alden C. Clayton

Mary E. Clemesha

Edith K. Coxe

Julie Craves

Neil W. Currie

Carol Cwiklinski

Leonard DeFrancisco

Eric Delbecq

Louis S. Diamond

Bruce Duncan

Eastern Massachusetts Hawk Watch

Caroline Eastman

Russell D. and Ann F. Edmonds

Cynthia D. Ellis

Norval Fairman

Robert and Linda Feldman

Robert E. and Karen D. Fisher

Michael D. Fitzpatrick

Wavell W. and Susan A. Fogleman

Andrew Francis

Gregory A. George

Ralph W. and Jane R. Geuder

Craig Goldblatt

David M. and Ursula P. Goodine

Laurie J. Goodrich

Brian and Ann Gray

Wayne and Else M. Greenstone

Gregory W. and Deborah Shuey Grove

Joan R. Guillaume

John C. and Marya B. Halderman

Allen M. Hale

Brian Hardiman

Jeffrey Hays

Highlands Audubon Society

Brian S. Hillegrass

Stephen W. Hoffman

Holiday Beach Migration Observatory

A. Craig and Isabel L. Houston

Lance and Pat Howell

Patricia Ann Howell

Wendy Howes

Libby Huffman

David J.T. Hussell and Erica Dunn

James T. Jennings

Sharon E. Johnson

Barton D. Kamp

Rudolph Keller

Gordon and Mary Kepler

Lloyd F. and Julia L. Kiff

Joseph P. Kleiman

Arlene F. and David M. Koch

Thomas J. and Janet L. Kuehl

Danny Kunkle

Lawrence F. LaPré

William C. Latta

Lynette Leka

Manuel R. Llorca

Susan Llorca

Stuart Mackenzie

Iain and Susan A. MacLeod

Richard S. Mather

Yvonne McHugh

Mabel McIntosh

David P. McNicholas

C. Kay Millar

Daniel E. Miller

Angelo C. and Marian L. Mincone

Scott S. Moorhouse

Kirk Moulton

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Niagara Peninsula Hawkwatch

Mary Normandia

Darrin S. O'Brien

Thomas M. O'Donnell

Betty E. Oleary

Benjamin Olewine, IV

Stephen B. Oresman

P.Q.S.P.B. Kelly Fund

Frederick D. Paley

Stephanie P. Parkinson

Richard Peake

George W. Perkins, Jr.

Autumn Pfeiffer

Pronatura Veracruz A.C.

R. Gilbert and Jann M. Randell

Alan F. Rawle

Frank L. Rawling, Jr.

John J. Reed

Sue Ann Ricciardi

Robert L. Rineer

Chandler S. and Eleanor C. Robbins

Paul M. and Julia S. Roberts

Patricia Rossi

Robert Daniel Rossi

Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza

Jeffrey Sanders

Jane M. and Bernard W. Schaaf

Susan D. and Jeffrey L. Schmoyer

Rick Schmude

Joan M. Schnabel

Greg Septiem

Dan A. Sherman

Janet E. Sidewater

Susan K. Simovich

Arthur Slaughter

Stephen M. Small

Jason J. Sodergren

Jennifer P. Speers

Donald and Lillian Stokes

Robert P. Stoll

Michael Street

Robert B. Sulski

Matilda E. Thompson

Harrison B. and Jean Tordoff

US Fish and Wildlife Service

Pamela Kim Van Fleet

Jeanne Emery and Alex C. Velto

Steve Walter

Dan and Jeannie Ward

Will Weber

John Weeks

Margaret M. Wilsbach

Matthew E. Wlasniewski

Joseph E. Wojtanowski

Art and Joyce Woods

Mariko Yamasaki

William Zinaveah



Support raptor conservation and the RPI Project

Generous support of individuals and hawk watches has been critically important to the successful development of RPI and HawkCount.org. Help us bring the RPI vision to reality by becoming or renewing your contribution as Annual Sponsors.


Golden Eagle

$5,000 or more

Osprey

$2,500 - $4,999

Northern Goshawk

$1,000 - $2,499

Peregrine Falcon

$500 - $999

Broad-winged Hawk

$100 - $499

American Kestrel

up to $100


Please make checks payable to: HMANA and send them to Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza, Raptor Population Index Project Manager, P.O. Box 721, Plymouth, NH 03264. Alternatively, you may contribute on line at http://www.hmana.org/rpi/. All contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.



THE RPI TEAM


Steering Committee


Jeff P. Smith, Chair

HawkWatch International


Keith L. Bildstein

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary


Stephen W. Hoffman

Montana Audubon


David J.T. Hussell

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources


Denis Lepage

Bird Studies Canada


Iain MacLeod

Hawk Migration Association of North America


David McNicholas

Hawk Migration Association of North America



Science Advisory Committee


Keith L. Bildstein, Chair

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary


Erica Dunn

Canadian Wildlife Service


Allen Fish

Golden Gate Raptor Observatory


Mark R. Fuller

United States Geological Survey


Laurie J. Goodrich

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary


Stephen W. Hoffman

Montana Audubon Society


David J.T. Hussell

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources


David Mizrahi

New Jersey Audubon Society


Bruce Peterjohn

United States Geological Survey


John Smallwood

Montclair State University


Jeff P. Smith

HawkWatch International


Phil Taylor

Bird Studies Canada



Supporting Staff


Tara Crewe

Bird Studies Canada


Chris Farmer

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary


Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza

Hawk Migration Association of North America


Jason Sodergren

Hawk Migration Association of North America


Julie Tilden

Hawk Migration Association of North America



Contact us!


Ernesto Ruelas Inzunza

Hawk Migration Association of North America

P.O. Box 721

Plymouth NH 03264

Phone: 607-342-4971

E-mail: ruelas@hmana.org

http://www.hmana.org/


Keith L. Bildstein

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Acopian Center

410 Summer Valley Road

Orwigsburg PA 17961

Phone: 570-943-3411, ext. 108

E-mail: bildstein@hawkmtn.org

http://www.hawkmountain.org/


Jeff P. Smith

HawkWatch International

2240 S 900 E

Salt Lake City UT 84106

Phone: 801-484-6808, ext. 109

E-mail: jsmith@hawkwatch.org

http://www.hawkwatch.org/


Denis Lepage

Bird Studies Canada

P.O. Box 160

115 Front Street

Port Rowan ON

Canada N0E 1M0

Phone: 519-586-3531, ext. 155

E-mail: dlepage@bsc-eoc.org

http://www.bsc-eoc.org