Every fall, migrating birds of prey pass over Cape Henlopen, and every fall since 1995 someone has been there counting them. The Cape Henlopen Hawk Watch is one of Delaware's two fall raptor-counting stations, and it is set up so that the public can simply stop and watch.
Why the count happens here
Cape Henlopen sits on the coastal migration route. According to DNREC, raptors use the Atlantic coastline as a directional landmark: the line where land meets ocean is something a migrating hawk can follow. That is why the count is kept on the coast.
The count is a fall migration count. It is not a single event or a scheduled program. It is a season of observation, kept up day after day while the birds are moving.
Where the counting happens
DNREC says the Cape Henlopen station operates from a viewing platform atop a historic World War II bunker. That detail is worth sitting with for a moment: a World War II structure on the coast is now used to watch the sky.
The season, and who is up there
The Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park list the season as Sept. 1 through Nov. 30. A professional raptor counter is present most days, and volunteers take part in the count as well.
No experience is required to visit and watch. You do not need to know a hawk from a falcon to stand on the platform and look up. The people counting do know, and that is part of the point of going.
What decides a good day
Weather strongly affects migration. That is the honest limit of any advice here: there is no guarantee that a given afternoon will be busy overhead, and this publication is not going to print a forecast, a species list or a daily tally it has not seen.
What it does mean is that a visit is better treated as something to fit into an existing trip to the park than as a one-shot outing built around seeing a particular bird. Go when you are already at Cape Henlopen. Look up. If the count is moving, you will be standing next to the people who can tell you what you are looking at.
Going
- Where: Cape Henlopen State Park, at the Hawk Watch viewing platform on the historic WWII bunker.
- When: The fall season runs Sept. 1 through Nov. 30.
- Who: A professional raptor counter most days, plus volunteers.
- What you need: No experience.
Sources: Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Hawk Watch program page (dnrec.delaware.gov), for the station's 1995 start, the platform atop a historic WWII bunker, the coastal migration route, raptors' use of the Atlantic coastline as a directional landmark and the effect of weather on migration; Friends of Cape Henlopen State Park, Hawk Watch page (fochsp.org), for the Sept. 1 – Nov. 30 season, the professional counter present most days, volunteer participation and the no-experience-required welcome. This piece deliberately carries no bird counts or species reports. Current counts are kept by the Hawk Watch itself. Park entry rules and fees are set by Delaware State Parks.