Hawkwatch New Jersey

Red-tailed hawk by skeeze

Hawks are on their way south for the winter. You might spot them almost anywhere in New Jersey, but you have an excellent chance of seeing some at the NJ Audubon Montclair Hawk Lookout in Essex County. This is the Audobon's smallest sanctuary at 1 acre, but it is the second oldest continuous hawk watch in the nation. 

I have climbed up there each fall for a good number of years since it is in my neighborhood.

It is a stone-filled platform atop a 500-foot basalt ledge on a ridge that borders Montclair and Cedar Grove that is part of the First Watchung Mountain. Coastal and ridge flying birds follow this first ridge west of the lower Hudson River Valley. It runs northeast to southwest. 

Looking north across the road is Essex County Park, Mills Reservation. A concrete pad on that cliff is all that remains of what was once a tracking location that was part of the Nike missile system. That is the location for the Spring Hawk Count as it offers better visibility to the south as hawks return to the state. 

The hawkwatch is manned for fall from September 1 through November 30 from 9am - 5pm. The spring watch is from March 16 to May 15.

"October may be the most interesting time to visit the Lookout, as it offers the greatest diversity of hawk species. Chances are now better to see Merlins or even a Peregrine Falcon or two. However, by mid-month the Broad-winged Hawk flight will be over for the season, as other species begin to peak. The Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawk will be most numerous at the end of the month."

NJ Audobon also has a Cape May Hawkwatch location. 

For directions to the Montclair location: njaudubon.org/watches/montclair-hawk-watch/

Hawk Watch

Every fall since I have lived nearby, I have made my way up to the NJ Audubon Hawk Watch on the Montclair-Cedar Grove border in Essex County.

Though it was no doubt used for observing earlier, it came to be in September 1959 and is the organization's smallest sanctuary at one acre. But it is big in reputation, being the second oldest continuous hawk watch in the nation.

The Hawk Watch will be open between 9am and 5pm, from September through November 30th.

Climbing the stairs

From the street, a short but steep trail and stair climb will bring you atop a stone-filled platform on a 500-foot basalt ledge. 

This is a ridge of the Watchung Mountains. At the border of Montclair and Cedar Grove, New Jersey, is a well constructed Montclair Hawk Lookout, a sanctuary of the New Jersey Audubon.

This is the first ridge west of the lower Hudson River Valley and runs from northeast to southwest and migrating birds use the ridgeline and the thermal to move south.

This place is a small oasis in a densely populated county. Looking south and east on a clear day, you have a view of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the New York City skyline including the Statue of Liberty, and northeast to the Palisades. 

View to the west

To the north and west, you can see peaks from the Ramapo Mountains and the edge of the Second Watchung Mountain.

Directly north, really across the street, is the Essex County Park of Mills Reservation. A ledge there still has a concrete pad that is the remnant of the Nike tracking system that ran along the Watchung ridge in the 1960s. From the Mills reservation site, the Spring Hawk Count is conducted, as it has the best visibility to the south to see returning birds.

Chris Payne on his watch

The lookout is monitored for three months in the Fall and two months in the Spring. On my most recent visit, I met ​Chris Payne who is on duty for NJ Audubon this autumn.

He said that it has been a good year, particularly for Peregrine falcons who have totaled more than 70 as of early November. Most of them have already moved further south.

He tries to distinguish between migrating birds and those who stay in the area. "Locals" will circle and hunt in the area rather than ride the thermals south.

Red-tailed hawk

Red-tailed hawk riding a thermal

The numbers for broadwinged hawks are down so far. There are many buteo jamaicensis, or red-tailed hawks, which is the mascot of the nearby Montclair State University. Red-tailed hawks can be found on campus, where they perch in trees and on utility poles.

An unusual sighting for Chris this fall was a Northern goshawk, a species that, as its name suggests, does not usually go south.

You wouldn't think that raptors would be fooled by a plastic owl atop a pole, but Chris told me that the owl is sometimes attacked. Locals learn it is not real and ignore it, but migrating birds will sometimes spot it and attack. This makes for some good photo opportunities and closer looks for visitors.

The day I visited it was late in the day (3:30 pm) and getting cooler, so there wasn't much activity. It is also late in the year for some species to be still moving past this area. But it is still a nice little climb and a great view.

The platform will be closed at the end of November. As an alternative, try the ridge at Mills Reservation across the road.

Using GPS directions to 42 Old Quarry Rd, Cedar Grove, NJ will put you at the street entrance to the Hawk Watch. There is street parking and a small parking area just west of the entrance along the edge of Mills Reservation, which you can enter from that parking area and find a trail to that other lookout. 

Video: A visit to the Montclair Hawk Watch - North Jersey Video 2:55 Oct 12, 2017

Mills Reservation: Urban Trails

Mills Reservation is another one of NJ's urban forests located in Essex County. It is my favorite local walking spot as it is very close to my home. It is located primarily in Cedar Grove with a section reaching into bordering Montclair. It became a part of the Essex County Park system in 1954 due to a donation from the Davella Mills foundation, which had previously owned the land.

Mills Reservation consists of deciduous woodland and wetlands, with the only development consisting of a small unpaved parking lot located off of Normal Avenue and the development of an extensive trail system for a small area. Though it is surrounded by roads and homes, like many urban parks, it offers a welcome escape close to home.

The Reservation grew from its original 119 acres to 157 acres through a land swap in the mid-1960s with the city of Newark, which owns adjoining property and also the nearby reservoir in Cedar Grove.

Mills Reservation is located on the First Watchung Mountain. The word “Watchung” is of Native American origin and means “high hill." Geologically, the rock which forms the Watchungs is known as volcanic basalt, which formed when molten lava extruded out of the earth’s surface and cooled rapidly.

Mills Reservation features seven trails totaling 6.1 miles. The trails overlap, which can be confusing, but the most used one is the 1.5-mile Mills Loop Trail. It is essentially a gravel road which is popular with joggers and dog walkers, while the other six trails go deeper into the wooded forest areas and are more interesting.

The Reservoir Trail has red blazes and runs for 1 Mile heading west from the Parking Lot and following the western border of Mills Reservation near Reservoir Drive. The Reservoir trail ends where the southern section of the Eastview Trail begins. 

A portion of the much longer Essex County Lenape Trail also runs through the reservation. The Lenape Trail is a trail connecting Newark and Roseland, New Jersey. It was established in 1982.
It is the fifth-longest trail in the state, and it traverses cities like Newark and its suburbs, but also the Watchung Mountains and the Passaic Meadows. The Lenape Trail is part of the larger 156-mile Liberty Water Gap Trail, created in 2000.

The Lenape Trail west is accessible from the parking lot via the short Lenape Link Trail (Yellow on White Blazes), which heads west from the Normal Avenue parking lot to connect with the Lenape Trail. From here, you can connect to the West Essex Trail, which is the Lenape Trail's only true "rail-to-trail" section.

The Lenape Trail also heads southwest, crossing through the Reservoir Trail, Mills Loop Trail, and the Woodland Trail. Once the Lenape Trail crosses the Woodland and Mills Loop Trail, it heads east to Quarry Point and then north, paralleling the Eastview Trail and into Montclair’s Mountainside Park on its way to Newark.


The Eastview Trail (Blue Blazes, 1.1 Miles) starts its southern portion near the Old Quarry Road entrance to Mills Reservation and, as the name implies, heads east to Quarry Point before turning north on the eastern portion of the reserve.

Quarry Point contains volcanic basalt outcrops in addition to a very old cement platform where anti-aircraft guns were installed during World War II. There are great views of NYC and to the south. This is the first ridge west of the lower Hudson River Valley, and runs from northeast to southwest. The view from the platform is south and east. Bring binoculars. To the south, on a clear day, there is a view of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, and south and east, you can see the entire New York City skyline, including the Statue of Liberty, and all the way northeast to the Palisades. Looking far north and less easily to the west, peaks from the Ramapo Mountains can be discerned, and the beginning of the Second Watchung Mountain.

The NJ Audubon Society uses this and their Lookout across the road for observing migratory birds, such as warblers in the spring and hawks in the fall. The Montclair Hawk Lookout is opposite Quarry Point (across a road) atop a 500-foot basalt ledge.

The Mills Gate Trail  (Orange Blaze) is a very short side loop of the Mills Reservation Loop that goes through the original entrance of Mills Reservation.

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DIRECTIONS: Take the Garden State Parkway south to exit 151 (Watchung Avenue in Montclair). Turn west from the exit ramp onto Watchung Avenue.  Drive about two miles until the road ends at Upper Mountain Avenue.  Turn north and go 1.7 miles to the traffic light at Normal Avenue.  Turn west and drive 0.3 miles to the entrance on the left.  Limited parking is also available on Old Quarry Road near the southern entrance and that is just steps away from Quarry Point and the Hawkwatch.

MORE INFORMATION
nynjtc.org/park/mills-reservation-county-park
NJurbanforest.com  
At NYNJCT Botany, you can see lists of Mills Reservation's array of native flora including trees, shrubs, vines and herbs.
Montclair Hawk Lookout, a sanctuary of the New Jersey Audubon Society.
Lenape Trail Information: NYNJtc.org/park/lenape-trail  and LibertyGap.org/lenape-trail.html

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