In the early 1900s, at a time when timbering and charcoal-making were major activities along Pennsylvania’s forested ridges, the slopes of the Kittatinny Ridge were also being visited by hunters in the early fall. The hunters knew that the prominent sandstone rock outcrops along the Ridge afforded prime views of migrating birds, and shooting the early season migrants became a popular sport.  The hunters would claim to be practicing their aim for the upcoming small-game season.  The shooters were well motivated by a $5/head Pennsylvania Game Commission bounty offered for Northern Goshawks shot between November 1 and May 1. Since few hunters had the ability or desire to confirm identification in-flight, most any raptor that flew by was subject to their aim.

By the 1930s, the conservation philosophies of Aldo Leopold, Gifford Pinchot, and John Muir began taking hold. News and photographs of the hawk massacres reached, and greatly distressed, a member of the New York Hawk and Owl Society named Rosalie Edge. In 1933 and 1934, when America was still reeling from the effects of the Great Depression, Ms. Edge raised enough funds to acquire the land surrounding a particularly active shooting spot on the Kittatinny Ridge in Berks County. This site became the first wildlife sanctuary in the world dedicated to the preservation, observation, and study of raptors. Today, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary continues to be a world-renowned raptor observation, education, and research facility.

The shooters, ousted from Hawk Mountain, established stands at other outcrops along the Ridge, most notably Bake Oven Knob on the border of Lehigh and Carbon Counties. Despite Game Commission efforts to enforce whatever protection legislation was current (see inset timeline), the shooting at Bake Oven continued into the1950’s when finally, birders and law enforcement nudged the shooters off the rocks. In the early 1960s, official hawk counts began at Bake Oven Knob. Meanwhile in the 1940s and 1950s, hawk watchers began recording sitings at Sterrett’s Gap and Waggoner’s Gap on the Kittatinny Ridge in Cumberland County.

Today, hawk watching takes place at several locations along the Kittatinny Ridge, which and has become an autumn destination for raptor enthusiasts around the world. Find other hawk watch sites along the Ridge.