A few years ago, I wrote a story on Changing Fashion, Saving Birds from 150 years ago that used all matter of birds, especially feathers, which almost wiped out some species; killed an estimated five million birds a year. The link is at the bottom of the page. 100 hundred years ago, this woman, Rosalie Edge, single-handedly, not only saved hawks from hunter’s folly, but also an entire forest, which was saved from logging. I watched a video on one of the hiking trails which showed how the “river of rocks” was formed during the ice ages retreat. Under the rocks there is a small stream; rocks on top of the river. And it is now a state park and bird watchers’ sanctuary. Imagine if the forest had been lost. Our generation would have never known what.
n 1934, Rosalie Edge, a suffragist-turned-conservationist, leased and later purchased Hawk Mountain in Pennsylvania. She did this after learning that thousands of migrating raptors were being systematically shot there, often with bounties paid to hunters.
With no electricity, no running water, and armed hunters to face down, she established the world’s first sanctuary dedicated solely to birds of prey. She stood alone, unarmed, driven by the simple revolutionary idea that these birds deserved to live.
Since then:
• Hawk Mountain has run the world’s longest continuous raptor migration count, tracking migration every fall since 1934.
• It became a global leader in raptor research, education, and conservation, protecting species across continents.
• It operates as an independent nonprofit — funded by donations, not government.
• Without Edge’s intervention, the land would have been clear-cut and lost to agriculture.
What began as an act of defiance became a beacon of hope. Today, Hawk Mountain is a global leader in raptor research and conservation, tracking migration patterns, educating the public, and protecting birds of prey across continents.
One mountain.
One woman.
And a sky forever changed.
#HawkMountain #WomenInConservation #RaptorSanctuary #asolotraveler #NatureHistory #BirdsOfPrey #ConservationHero
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