Have you ever wondered how they count raptors at the mega-million raptor migration sites such as Mexico’s Veracruz River of Raptors and Costa Rica’s Kekoldi site? In this program we look behind the curtain and learn how hawk counters in the most concentrated flyway in the world estimate or count migrating raptors and waterbirds on days when totals easily surpass 200,000.
In this FREE virtual program, Jamie Dawson, Director of Education, and Laurie Goodrich, Director of Conservation Science, will host Ernesto Ruelas, Veracruz River of Raptors founder and current Hawk Mountain board member, to briefly discuss how count methods were developed 25 years ago at Veracruz where they consistently record 4-5 million raptors each fall. Then, Kashmir Wolf, Monitoring Coordinator for Veracruz River of Raptors, the person that oversees and trains hawk counters at Veracruz River of Raptors, will review how the migration count is done today and how he trains observers to be up to the task. Following Kashmir, David Araya-H and Julio Madriz of Costa Rica’s Kekoldi raptor migration site will review how they train their counters and estimate flocks. Afterwards, all speakers will be available for questions and discussion.
This program is designed for general public, hawk counters, as well as raptor enthusiasts and biologists. Spanish language speakers are welcome, and key concepts will be translated by the bilingual speakers.
A private link to the webinar will be emailed to all registrants about 1 hour before the start of the live program. A recording of the webinar will be posted and shared to all registrants following the event.
Registration closes 2 hours before the start of the program.
Hawk Mountain will be recording this webinar, including all questions, comments, etc., by the audience. By participating, you agree to allow the recording to be posted on Hawk Mountain's website, Facebook page, Instagram feed, and other media.