MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, Jun. 21 - Where will raptor enthusiasts and professionals be this September? Several hundred from all across North America will flock to Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, from September 12-16, 2007. The joint national meeting of the Hawk Migration Association of North America and the Raptor Research Foundation will be hosted by the hemisphere's first sanctuary for birds of prey, the famed Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, based near in east central Pennsylvania near Kempton.
MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, Jun. 21 -/E-Wire/-- Where will raptor enthusiasts and professionals be this September? Several hundred from all across North America will flock to Fogelsville, Pennsylvania, from September 12-16, 2007. The joint national meeting of the Hawk Migration Association of North America and the Raptor Research Foundation will be hosted by the hemisphere's first sanctuary for birds of prey, the famed Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, based near in east central Pennsylvania near Kempton.
One of the highlights of this meeting will be a special session on the American Kestrel, a species known to be in decline for the last decade. The symposium will bring kestrel experts together to identify ways to conserve North America's tiniest falcon and attempt to quantify the severity of the decline.
And it "just so happens" that the conference coincides with the peak of Broad-winged Hawk migration in eastern Pennsylvania. Broadwings, as they are less formally known, often migrate in flocks of several hundred or more, swirling in one area of the sky like so many bubbles in a boiling kettle. And from this image comes the name of the conference, Kettling on the Kittatinny, a hawkwatcher's reference to these boiling masses of broadwings that "kettle" south to Central America.
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It's not just broadwings that will be flying during the days of the conference, either. The time is also prime for migrating warblers, tanagers, grosbeaks and orioles. Morning field trips are scheduled to some of the region's best birding spots to locate some of these.
Noted authors and naturalists Pat and Clay Sutton will present the keynote address on Thursday, September 13. Pat Sutton was program director at New Jersey Audubon Society's Cape May Observatory for many years, and Clay Sutton was vice-president of an environmental consulting firm. Both are now writers, naturalists, lecturers and tour leaders. Their latest book, Birds and Birding at Cape May, was published in December 2006.
A symposium on the Status of North American Raptors will be held on Saturday, September 15. This special symposium will focus on sharing the latest on the conservation status of North American raptors and will feature analyses of raptor migration count data and other sources of information.
Conference proceedings will take place at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in nearby Fogelsville, Pennsylvania. Trips to area hawkwatches, including one to nearby Hawk Mountain's lookouts, are planned for September 13 and 14. An evening reception and raptor art show at nearby Muhlenberg College is also planned for September 14. The culmination of the conference will be a banquet on September 15, and a post-conference trip to Cape May is also available for those who wish to extend their stay.
The conference is open to any interested hawkwatcher or birder. For more information and registration please see www.hmana.org, www.hawkmountain.org or http://raptorresearchfoundation.org. So bring your binoculars and join us for an event that promises both fun and information about America's birds of prey!
The Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) is a membership-based scientific, educational and, conservation organization that collects data from hundreds of affiliated raptor monitoring sites throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. HMANA's mission is the conservation of raptors through the scientific study, enjoyment, and appreciation of raptor migration. For more information on hawk migration and HMANA, visit www.hmana.org or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Contact Info:
Paul M. Roberts
E-mail : This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Website : the Hawk Migration Association of North America
