Volunteer birders on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park are turning their binoculars to the sky this month as the 30th annual Hawk Watch gets underway.
The citizen science project runs from August into November, and records sightings of migratory raptors such as bald eagles, American kestrels, peregrine falcons, and other species.
Seth Benz, with the Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park, helped start the project three decades ago.
He said each sighting is recorded and added to a national database, helping scientists understand population trends in these apex predators.
"Oftentimes, these hawk watch sites are the early warning system for detecting what is happening with raptor populations," he said.
In recent years, Benz said the project has documented an uptick in bald eagle and peregrine falcon populations, and registered a dip in osprey numbers.
