Acadia National Park kicks off HawkWatch

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK, Maine (AP) —Acadia National Park's annual HawkWatch season kicks off this week when visitors join park staff and volunteers in collecting information about the falcons, hawks, eagles and ospreys that pass through the park each summer and fall.

Each day from Wednesday through Oct. 14, volunteers and park rangers will help visitors find and identify birds passing by. The data that is collected will contribute to a regional picture of hawk populations from data collected at other sites in New England.

Data from Acadia and more than 200 other hawk-watching sites are submitted to the Hawk Migration Association of North America to help determine the stability and health of raptor populations.