New Raptors Take Over Silhouette Trail

The ADA accessible Silhouette Trail, which meanders through Hawk Mountain's ridge-top forest between the Trail Head and South Lookout, has undergone its first display transformation this past month. The trail-side gallery still features 7 silhouettes of raptors, but this time from a specific region of the world.

The specially commissioned gallery features life-size, in-flight silhouettes of 7 of Latin America's endangered birds of prey, including the crowned eagle, Cuban kite, grey-backed hawk, Gundlach's hawk, harpy eagle, white-collared kite, and Ridgway's hawk. All metal silhouettes were designed and created by Allen Kohn.

Many of the raptors migrating past Hawk Mountain in autumn travel as far as Central and South America. Many of those that do, interact with the raptors that live in Latin America year round. Although most species of Latin American raptors are doing fine, several of them, including the seven species described here, are listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Threatened, or Near-Threatened globally.

Displaying silhouettes of these endangered raptors on the Silhouette Trail helps to highlight their conservation status and describe the factors that threaten them. Hawk Mountain works with conservation partners Latin America, as well as elsewhere in the world, in an attempt to learn more about endangered raptors and how we can work to protect them.

The one-of-a-kind silhouettes will remain on display through the summer, and a brochure describing the raptors and their current conservation status are available in the Visitor Center or by download.