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Fall Bird Migration in New York

DEC calls the Montezuma Wetlands Complex one of the busiest bird migration routes on the Atlantic flyway, and waterfowl numbers there peak in the tens of thousands in mid November while the raptor counts work the Hudson Highlands and the Long Island shore.

Agency viewing sites
4
Species documented
3
Mapped
4
Where to stand

Public viewing sites in New York

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.

Montezuma Wetlands Complex FederalMarquee site

Fifty thousand acres of marsh, mudflat and impoundment at the north end of Cayuga Lake

Snow goose

DEC calls this one of the busiest bird migration routes on the Atlantic flyway, lists Canada geese and snow geese among the wildlife to watch, and points to an observation tower and ground-level observation decks across the complex. The refuge's own seasonal calendar says geese and waterfowl come back through from mid September to freeze-up and that waterfowl numbers peak to the tens of thousands in mid November. The one-way wildlife drive along the Main Pool is open April 1 to November 30 and the visitor center at 3395 US Route 20 East in Seneca Falls keeps the same dates. The Esker Brook and South Spring Pool trails close from November 1.

“Mid-November, waterfowl numbers peak to the tens of thousands!”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge seasonal calendar, quoted exactly.

Run by New York State DEC with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge

Mount Peter Hawk Watch Public platformMarquee site

Ridge platform above Greenwood Lake in the Hudson Highlands of Orange County

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile calls this the third oldest continually manned hawk watch and the oldest all-volunteer hawk watch in the country, in operation since 1958, west of Greenwood Lake in Orange County just off Route 17A, with observers scanning from the viewing platform. The count runs September 1 to November 15. Broad-winged hawks average about 4,760 a season, with a record 11,256 in 2015.

“the third oldest continually manned hawk watch and the oldest all-volunteer hawk watch in the country!”
HawkCount.org, Mount Peter site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Mount Peter Hawk Watch, an all-volunteer count off Route 17A in Orange County

Bear Mountain Hawk Watch, Bear Mountain State Park Public platform

Summit overlook in the rugged hills above the west bank of the Hudson River

Broad-winged hawkSharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile describes Bear Mountain State Park in rugged mountains rising above the Hudson River about 45 miles north of New York City, with views from the summit across Harriman State Park, and says that in the fall watchers use an overlook with views to the north and east. The fall count runs August 15 to November 30.

“In the fall, watchers use an overlook with views to the north and east.”
HawkCount.org, Bear Mountain site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Bear Mountain State Park, New York State Parks; the count is volunteer run and reports to HawkCount

Fire Island Hawkwatch, Robert Moses State Park Public platform

Barrier beach dune at the west end of Fire Island on the south shore of Long Island

Sharp-shinned hawk

The HawkCount profile places this watch on a barrier beach off the south shore of Long Island at the east end of Robert Moses State Park. The coastal line is an accipiter and falcon count rather than a buteo one: sharp-shinned hawks average about 410 a season, with a record 1,284 in 1985, while broad-winged hawks barely register. The count runs from September into mid November.

“The Fire Island Hawkwatch is on a barrier beach, off the south shore of Long Island, NY.”
HawkCount.org, Fire Island Hawkwatch site profile, quoted exactly.

Run by Robert Moses State Park, New York State Parks; the count is volunteer run and reports to HawkCount

The map

New York sites, refuges and the reporting record

Style
Records
Layers

Viewing sites in New York, 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 York

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge seasonal calendar puts the New York peak at Geese and waterfowl come back through Montezuma from mid September to freeze-up and peak in the tens of thousands in mid November; the Hudson Highlands raptor counts run September 1 to November 15. 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 York carries two different fall migrations. In the Finger Lakes, the Montezuma Wetlands Complex is a 50,000 acre mosaic of state wildlife management area, federal refuge and conserved private marsh that DEC calls one of the busiest bird migration routes on the Atlantic flyway. Geese and ducks come back through from mid September until the marshes freeze, and the refuge says waterfowl numbers peak to the tens of thousands in mid November, Canada and snow geese among them. South and east of there the raptor flights follow the Hudson Highlands and then the coast: a platform on Mount Peter that has been staffed since 1958, a north and east facing overlook on Bear Mountain, and a barrier beach at the end of Robert Moses State Park where the count is mostly accipiters and falcons rather than the ridge buteos.

Below, one curve per species the agencies document in New York: 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.

Snow goose

978 research grade snow geese observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for New York across every year the platform holds, and 24 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is March. An autumn month carries about 0.65 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.

Broad-winged hawk

780 research grade broad-winged hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for New York 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 April. 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

617 research grade sharp-shinned hawks observations have been uploaded to iNaturalist for New York across every year the platform holds, and 42 percent of them fall in the four shaded autumn months. The busiest month in the record is March. An autumn month carries about 1.48 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 York lately

The most recent research grade autumn observation of each species that anyone has uploaded to iNaturalist for New York, as a date and the platform’s own coarse locality. Evidence that people do find snow goose and broad-winged 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 York on iNaturalist...

Where New York counts are published

Elsewhere

Other states with agency designated migration viewing

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Questions about New York

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 York waterfowl seasonThe hunting calendar on the same marshes, worth knowing before standing on a dike in October.New York daylight hoursThe dawn and dusk flights are the spectacle, and the clock change moves them.