HawkWatch Fund off to a Great Start!

HMANA’s new HawkWatch Fund took flight this spring and it was a huge success.

Thank you to all who contributed to the HawkWatch Fund through this spring’s Raptorthon event. In addition to Raptorthon participants and sponsor contributions, every dollar raised for the fund was generously matched by the HMANA board. Woohoo!

We now have $2,585 to put towards our annual grant for watchsite assistance. Whether it’s educational materials and displays, construction and maintenance of viewing platforms, hiring hawkwatchers, or purchase of equipment, the HawkWatch Fund is designated to provide a helping hand to the watchsite community.

What kinds of grants would you like to see offered each year from HMANA? If you run a watchsite, what is your annual financial goal to sustain your site? Would you like to see an education grant to help purchase materials? We'd like to hear your thoughts and better understand how HMANA can best offer assistance to the monitoring community. Join the discussion on our new forum: www.hmana.org/forum

Thanks for helping us launch HawkWatch Fund. Stay tuned for more details this fall to learn how you can apply for funding for your site!

Looking for nominations

HMANA's Nominating Committee is soliciting suggestions for people who would be willing to serve on HMANA's board of directors.  Each year, the Nominating Committee prepares a list of interested candidates who are then voted on by the full HMANA membership.

If you think you or someone you know would be a good addition to the HMANA board, please contact David McNicholas at dmcnicholas@comcast.net. Include your own name and contact information, as well as the name and contact information of the person you wish to suggest.  You should include some brief information about the person being suggested and why they would make a good HMANA board member.
Names should be forwarded by early August to be considered during the upcoming fall HMANA election.

Another Successful Season for Raptorthon

In this photo, a Raptorthon team consults their Sibley Field Guide during an event led by Larry Harris at Plymouth Lake in Stillwater, NJ.

A big congratulations is in order to all those who participated in and contributed to this spring’s Raptorthon Challenge. It was a great success! Nine teams from across five states and Canada took part in their own one day events between March 1 - May 31. Some teams braved chilly winds and rain while others basked in sunshine as they helped raise money for raptors. And it was well worth it.

A total of $6,490.00 was raised during our spring event which will all benefit raptor research and conservation in various ways.
Here’s the breakdown:
$1,633.00 was distributed to participating watchsites or conservation organizations
$2,596.00 was allocated for HMANA programs like managing HawkCount.org and the Raptor Population Index Project
$2,261.00 was issued to our new HawkWatch Fund for watchsite support

Every dollar raised for the HawkWatch Fund during Raptorthon this spring was matched by the HMANA board. That means we now have $2,261.00 to put towards our annual grant for watchsite assistance! Whether it’s educational materials and displays, construction and maintenance of viewing platforms, hiring hawkwatchers, or purchase of equipment, this grant is designated to provide a helping hand to the watchsite community.

On behalf of HMANA, I’d like to thank all the individuals and teams who participated and/or contributed in the Spring Raptorthon Event. Whether you supported a participant for $5.00 or $500.00, or whether you organized a picnic event or an intensive 24hr race for the most species, it all helped us achieve our goal to raise funds and awareness for raptor monitoring and conservation. It is a continuous challenge finding funding for long-term raptor monitoring programs which are vital to conservation efforts, so thank you. We hope you’ll join us in making this event even more of a success again next spring.

If you’d like to read more about HMANA’s Raptorthon results, you can find team summaries and photos at www.hmana.org/raptorthon.