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Fall Bird Migration in New Hampshire

A ridge state where the fall flight is hawks along the Wapack Range: the oldest state park in New Hampshire hosts a staffed raptor observatory near the summit of Pack Monadnock from September 1 to November 20.

Agency viewing sites
2
Species documented
2
Mapped
2
Where to stand

Public viewing sites in New Hampshire

Every place below is one an agency itself describes for watching the fall passage, with the agency named and linked, the species it documents there, the months it names as the peak, and the facility that exists: a tour route, a platform, a tower, a visitor centre. Where the agency wrote a sentence worth reading, it is quoted exactly.

Pack Monadnock Raptor Observatory, Miller State Park StateMarquee site

Forested 2,290-foot summit on the Wapack Ridge above Peterborough

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The state park page links the observatory brochure and visiting page and describes a 1.3-mile paved summit road open seasonally, three hiking trails and a summit fire tower; the park charges a day-use fee (adults 4 dollars, children 6 to 11 2 dollars, NH residents 65 and over free). The operator says the observatory is staffed every day from September 1 through November 20, weather permitting, that peak hawk migration runs mid-September through mid-October, and that the platform is a 0.2-mile walk from the small summit lot, which fills on weekends; the larger lot at the base connects by the auto road (1.3 miles) or the Marion Davis Trail (1.4 miles). The HawkCount profile records significant flights of broad-winged and sharp-shinned hawks and an average near 10,000 raptors a season.

Run by New Hampshire State Parks; observatory run by New Hampshire Audubon and the Harris Center for Conservation Education

Carter Hill Raptor Observatory, Concord Public platform

Public observation platform on an upland ridge between the Merrimack and Contoocook rivers, in a conserved family orchard

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile gives a fall count season of September 1 to November 15 and says significant daily and seasonal flights of broad-winged hawks, sharp-shinned hawks, northern harriers, American kestrels and bald eagles have occurred here. The platform has been the hawk watch location since 2008 and is open to the public; visitors can generally drive to it, though weekends from mid September to mid October draw large crowds and more distant parking. The platform is not ADA accessible, and the profile says disabled visitors can watch from the area below. The orchard around it is open to the public 9 to 6 daily through the end of October and 9 to 5 daily in November. The profile puts the season's visitors at upwards of 10,000.

“Migration is most pronounced on northwest winds, especially on the several days following the passage of a cold front.”
HawkCount.org, Carter Hill Observatory site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Carter Hill Orchard, a conserved family farm; the observatory was coordinated by New Hampshire Audubon until 2017 and counts are now submitted by volunteers

The map

New Hampshire sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in New Hampshire, with the national wildlife refuges in the state drawn underneath. The coloured grid is where people have uploaded a verified sandhill crane record to iNaturalist in September, October, November and December, brighter where more have been logged. It is a map of reports rather than of birds: it thickens around refuges, car parks and towns because that is where observers stand, and it shows past reports rather than birds present today. Pins are public viewing sites an agency itself describes; grey dots are US Fish and Wildlife Service refuges and hatcheries, drawn because the refuge system is where most of the staging happens.

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When

When the passage peaks in New Hampshire

Harris Center for Conservation Education, operator of the Pack Monadnock Raptor Observatory with NH Audubon puts the New Hampshire peak at mid-September through mid-October, with the observatory staffed September 1 to November 20. That describes a pattern across past autumns. The week itself swings with the weather: a cold front to the north moves cranes and geese south in a single night, and a warm spell holds them for weeks. Dawn and the last hour before dusk are when cranes and geese move between the fields and the water, and that movement is the spectacle the platforms are built for.

New Hampshire's fall migration is a hawk flight along its north-to-south ridges, and the state park system's Miller State Park on Pack Monadnock is where a staffed observatory makes it visible to the public. The observatory sits on the 22-mile Wapack Ridge, and its operators write that migration is most pronounced on northwest winds in the several days after a cold front, with broad-winged hawks leading in September and sharp-shinned hawks, goshawks, falcons and eagles later; mid-October through mid-November can bring golden eagles. Daily totals go to HawkCount. New Hampshire Fish and Game publishes its own fall raptor article and names Mount Kearsarge, Pitcher Mountain, Little Round Top and Blue Job Mountain as other lookouts, but its website refused every fetch attempt made for this record, so its wording is not quoted here.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in New Hampshire: every research grade observation members of the public have uploaded to iNaturalist for the state, by calendar month across every year the platform holds, with September to December shaded. Counts of uploads, so they measure observers as well as birds, and the shape is worth reading where the absolute numbers are not.

Broad-winged hawk

799 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for New Hampshire across every year the platform holds, and 15 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is August. An autumn month carries about 0.35 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in July, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sharp-shinned hawk

137 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for New Hampshire across every year the platform holds, and 53 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is September. An autumn month carries about 2.22 times as many uploads as an average month outside autumn. People upload most of everything in July, so a bar that rises after that is the stronger signal. Counts of what people reported, measuring observers as well as birds. See the autumn records.

Sandhill cranes flying in a loose line across a pale open sky, necks held straight out in front and long legs trailing behind them
Sandhill cranes crossing a refuge on the morning flight. The movement is watched from the designated pullout or platform: the birds settle on shallow water for the night, and the roost itself is the one place a viewing site is never placed. “Sandhill cranes flying over Sherburne National Wildlife Refuge (24542820818)” by USFWS Midwest Region from United States, CC BY 2.0
Latest reports

What people have reported in New Hampshire lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for New Hampshire, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find broad-winged hawk and sharp-shinned hawk here. Each is one bird on one past day: the flocks move with the weather, so where they are this week is what the agency page and its counts answer.

Checking the most recent autumn uploads for New Hampshire on iNaturalist...

Where New Hampshire counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

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Questions about New Hampshire

Inventory compiled 2026-09-19 from the agency pages linked above. Agency text is quoted exactly with its source named and linked; the observation curves and latest reports are counts and dates from public uploads to iNaturalist.

Winter eagle watchingThe same refuges and rivers three months later, when the ice concentrates the eagles.New Hampshire waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.New Hampshire daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.