Millions of hawks, vultures, and other raptors migrate between North and South America every year. Because they avoid flying over large bodies of water, Panama acts as a bottleneck for these migratory birds, concentrating huge numbers of these birds in certain areas and creating a unique research opportunity.

While monitoring migratory songbirds as part of another project, ADOPTA's field team noted exceptionally large concentrations of raptors migrating above Bocas del Toro. This inspired us to start looking for an ideal location to establish a long-term monitoring project for raptor migration in the area. In early October 2021, Karl Bardon, an experienced hawk counter from the United States, accepted an invitation to start monitoring the raptor migration in Bocas Ridge.

Almost 2 million raptors were observed in the first Hawkwatch of fall 2021, confirming the importance of this area.

After the success of the first HawkWatch, we have expanded the monitoring to include three counting sites: Bocas Ridge, Valle de Agua, and Gavilán hill. Together with our research team, we have been training local interns – including young indigenous women – how to help with the monitoring. The income paid to the interns participating in the HawkWatch directly support the local economy, many members of which do not have electricity or running water, and provides individuals the agency to take an active role in the protection of their local environment.