Bernardsville's Hawk Season Has a Second Half, and It Starts on Hardscrabble Road
October 15, 2026
October 15, 2026
In September, Broad-winged Hawks gather in kettles and pour south over New Jersey, sometimes by the thousands in a single day. By the middle of October that flight is finished. What follows is a smaller, slower stretch of migration made up of larger birds, and New Jersey Audubon's free hawkwatches on the observation deck at Scherman Hoffman Wildlife Sanctuary in Bernardsville end on October 30, just as it peaks. That leaves four staffed sessions, and all of them fall in the final ten days of October.
New Jersey Audubon's guide to the Montclair Hawk Lookout describes the fall season in phases. Peak Broad-winged Hawk days usually come in the third week of September, when observers can count "hundreds and sometimes thousands" of the birds in a day. October offers the most variety of any month. Merlins and Peregrine Falcons become more likely, but "by mid-month the Broad-winged Hawk flight will be over for the season," and the guide says Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks "will be most numerous at the end of the month." In November the guide expects those two species to continue, with a chance of a Rough-legged Hawk from the far north and, eventually, a Golden Eagle.
The numbers show the change. On October 12, 2026, HawkCount, the shared database that regional hawkwatches report to, listed 65 birds at Montclair Hawk Lookout, 42 at Scott's Mountain, and 350 at Raccoon Ridge. On October 9, Chimney Rock Hawk Watch in Washington Valley Park, the closest of these sites to the Somerset Hills, counted 48. Those totals fall far short of a September day in the thousands. The birds counted now are fewer, and according to the Montclair guide's timeline, more of them are the big Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks.
The Montclair guide is a regional overview, and no 2026 count specific to Scherman Hoffman turned up in our research. It describes what typically moves through north-central New Jersey, which is different from a promise of what will pass over Bernardsville on a given afternoon.
Scherman Hoffman began in 1965, when Mr. and Mrs. Harry Scherman donated 125 acres to the New Jersey Audubon Society. G. Frederick Hoffman donated more land in 1973 and 1975. His estate house and caretaker's house became part of the sanctuary in 1981. The most recent addition came in 2018, when the Schermans' granddaughters donated 22.85 acres across Hardscrabble Road. The sanctuary now covers 298 acres of woodland, field, and floodplain spread across Bernardsville, Basking Ridge, and Harding Township.
The Hoffman house was expanded and renovated in 2004–5 and is now the Hoffman Center for Conservation and Environmental Education. It holds the tree-top observation deck, the Nature Store, and the Wayrick Art Gallery. From inside the store, visitors can watch the bird-feeding station next to the building. The grounds also include a 14-acre deer exclosure around the building, where visitors can compare habitat protected from deer browsing with habitat that deer have overbrowsed.
NJ Audubon's October calendar describes the hawkwatch sessions as "a bird's eye view of the fall migration" from that deck, with a naturalist on hand and loaner binoculars available. They are free, and they are canceled for rain, snow, or weather warnings. The event description is the same text NJ Audubon used for the September sessions, so it still promises Broad-winged Hawk kettles. On the remaining dates, the Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks the Montclair guide describes fit the timing better.
The four remaining staffed sessions, as of October 12:
The last two sessions match the end-of-month peak the Montclair guide gives for Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks. NJ Audubon has posted no hawkwatch sessions at Scherman Hoffman after October 30.
Ben Barkley is listed as a Program Director on Scherman Hoffman's staff page, alongside Sanctuary Director Jan Hudson and Program Director Stephanie Punnett. On Friday mornings this fall, Barkley leads NJ Audubon's Early Bird Walks. Each one starts with a survey of morning migrants from the third-floor observation deck, then continues onto the trails for a short hike. How far the group walks depends on how active the birds are.
The remaining Early Bird Walks are October 16, 23, and 30. The October 16 walk runs 7:15 to 9:15 a.m., and the calendar lists the last two at 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. Registration through Eventbrite closes at 4:00 p.m. the day before. The walks are free for members and $10 for nonmembers. On October 23 and 30, an early walk followed by the 10:00 a.m. hawkwatch makes for a full morning at the sanctuary.
That Friday, October 23, Barkley also presents the first program in "Birds of the World," a new NJ Audubon lecture series. Each installment will cover a different region of the world and its bird species, using photos, videos, and firsthand stories. NJ Audubon's calendar listing invites attendees to "come meet our new Program Director." The talk runs 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. It is free for members and $10 for nonmembers, and registration closes at 4:00 p.m. on October 22.
The hawkwatch calendar ends on October 30, but the Montclair guide's November birds keep moving after that, and the sanctuary keeps running its other programs. NJ Audubon's Saturday Morning Walks are informal, naturalist-led outings covering birds, trees, tracks, and whatever else turns up on the trails. They run from 8:00 to 9:00 a.m. on October 17, 24, and 31, then on November 7, 14, and 21. There is no walk on November 28. Registration closes at 3:00 p.m. the day before. Walks are free for members and $5 for nonmembers, and they are canceled for snow, rain, or weather warnings.
The trails are open every day from dawn to dusk. They run through upland deciduous forest, fields, and floodplain along the headwaters of the Passaic River. More than 200 bird species have been recorded at the sanctuary. NJ Audubon lists Pileated Woodpeckers, Wild Turkeys, and Great Horned and Screech owls among the sanctuary's nesting birds of interest.
Indoors, Ingrid Marie Harbour's exhibit "Wild Calm: NYC to NJ and Beyond" hangs in the Wayrick Wildlife Art Gallery on the center's second floor through November 6. The show covers about a decade of her work, including paintings of gardens and parks on Staten Island and in central New Jersey, detailed bird portraits, and a short series from Red Rock Canyon in Nevada. Admission is free, and the gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday.
A few practical details from NJ Audubon's Scherman Hoffman page:
Because pets aren't allowed at the sanctuary, households with a dog may want to plan the weekend of October 24 and 25 around two stops. Saturday has a morning walk on Hardscrabble Road at 8:00 a.m. On Sunday, October 25, Main Street Bernardsville holds Garlicsville at the Bernardsville Train Station. TAPinto Somerset Hills reports that the event will have live music, food, local vendors, and a Kids Adventure Zone, and that it is pet-friendly. The Borough Council consented to it as a Main Street Bernardsville special event at its July 13 meeting and adopted the resolution memorializing that approval on August 17.
Scherman Hoffman's own page lists Washington Valley Park's Chimney Rock Hawk Watch and the Montclair Hawk Watch as nearby sites. Both report counts to HawkCount, so a quick look at the previous day's totals before October 22 or 29 shows what has been moving through the region.
If you'd like to talk with a team that follows Bernardsville down to its hawkwatch calendar, The West Oak Team is glad to help. Schedule a complimentary local market consultation whenever it suits you, after hawk season or any other time.
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