Questions about Hawk Mountain?

So Hawk Mountain is at the top of my bucked list and as my family has a house in Pa it just makes scene to make a stop there in the future. My question is has anyone been there and also if you have how good of a spot was it?

I've been there a couple of times, and haven't found it to be good for photography. It's a flyway, where most of the raptors are passing through quickly, soaring fast in a straight line, at a distance too great for good photography. In the two times I've been there I've only seen two serious photographers, and neither were getting anything worthwhile. I'm in southern New Jersey, and know many bird photographers in the South Jersey - Philadelphia area, and have never heard it mentioned as a shooting location.

That said, this is just my experience, and the days I've been there were both unusually slow. And in any event, it is a cool place and worth a visit.

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I have found that what Tom J. said in the above post to be completely accurate . . . it's a really good place for birders to view hawks at a distance, but a poor place to try to get any good pictures.

Wow - this is now the Three Toms Thread.

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The above two posters are correct. You aren't going to have birds flying up close. Out west there are some hawkwatching sites that get birds going by at eye level, but none in the east as far as I'm aware.

Zach

Even if you don't get one shot, make the trip. It's a great way to spend a day. They have a plastic owl on a post that gets bombed by hawks every now and then. Maybe you'll get lucky. Leave the tripod and large lens at home. Bring binoculars and something soft to sit on a rock. Check out their website and data to learn the expected peak migration per species. It's a bit of a hike up. I made it a year or so ago at 55. Here's a pano from my iPhone. A local school had a field trip that day.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is exactly 100 miles from my home. I have been there several times and I agree it is difficult to get close up photos of the hawks there. However, at one time there was a Great Horned owl decoy set up on a pole. I sat near the base of that and had a Red Tail make a diving attack above my head. That would have been a great shot if I was ready with the right equipment.
Conditions vary and the winds will be the key to good birding there. Sometimes they hug the ridge and you can almost reach out and touch them. Other times they will ride the air currents farther away or up a bit higher. My best day there I saw 500 hawks in about two hours. If I go again, it will be on a weekday, due to crowding on the weekends and the timing will be right after a cold front. Dress for temperatures that are 15 degrees colder than you think it will be. It is a .7 mile hike from the parking lot to the top of the look out.
You will come to the South Lookout shortly after paying at the entrance. You might see a hawk flying through the trees in this area if the birds have made it to that side of the ridge.
As the sign says, Take only photographs and leave only foot prints.
If you are a novice at hawk identification is is a good place to learn when expert observers count them for the official tally. You can also find other birds near the visitors center as they have feeders set up outside the windows.
http://www.hawkmountai​n.org/