Monthly Club Meeting – “Chasing Broad-winged Hawks from Canada to Colombia: Ecology of a Long-Distance Migrant”

Join Dr. Laurie Goodrich from Hawk Mountain Sanctuary as we explore new discoveries made about Broad-winged Hawks, a secretive forest raptor. In 2014 migration monitoring data showed some populations of Broad-winged Hawks are declining in eastern North America. Hawk Mountain launched a new study to understand the full-life cycle ecology and migration of Broad-winged Hawks. Scientists have tracked Broad-wings from Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Canada to better understand migration patterns, threats and survival and studied their nesting ecology in three states.

Dr. Laurie Goodrich serves as the Sarkis Acopian Director of Conservation Science at Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. Goodrich has worked in virtually every aspect of conservation at Hawk Mountain, from overseeing its long-term migration counts, to directing its education program and developing the first education plan, to conducting scientific research and publishing more than 50 peer-reviewed papers. She is considered exceptional in her ability to bring people together to foster successful long-term conservation. Locally, she launched the collaborative Pennsylvania Farmland Raptor and The Broad-winged Hawk research projects, and globally, she co-founded the now world-famous, million-raptor conservation site at the River of Raptors in Veracruz, Mexico. Working with colleagues at the Hawk Migration Association of North America, HawkWatch International, and Bird Studies Canada, she helped develop the award-winning Raptor Population Index Project, and contributed heavily to The State of North America’s Birds of Prey, the first comprehensive analysis of raptor populations across the continent. Combined, she has coordinated the work of dozens of volunteers, trainees, and graduate students, and interacted with countless citizen scientists.