Looking for a new April adventure? Consider heading up toward Tahneta Pass on the Glenn Highway to join this year’s annual Gunsight Mountain hawk watch. The main event is April 19-20 and features talks by pro birders, hawk counts, and a potluck barbecue. Last year, says Mr. Whitekeys of Anchorage Audubon, observers counted over 250 raptors in one day, although thousands of hawks transit the area each spring.
“This is a spectacular event,” says Whitekeys. “It’s an almost eight-week parade of hawks.” Whitekeys first attended in the 1990s and was “immediately hooked.”
Mat-Su Birders and Anchorage Audubon host the annual event celebrating the return of migratory hawks and eagles to interior Alaska, which peaks in mid-April. They include bald and golden eagles and over five species of hawks, including many Harlan’s red-tailed hawks. It’s been a popular spot to watch raptors since the 1970s and is now the northernmost International Hawk Watch count site…