On Saturday, September 19, the hawk watch at Cromwell Valley Park counted 3,887 raptors in eight and a half hours. 3,800 of them were Broad-winged Hawks. As of October 3, the fall season total on HawkCount stood at 5,503 birds. That one Saturday accounts for about 70 percent of it.
That kind of day makes the hawk watch sound like a September event. The count actually runs September 11 through November 14. The birds passing over the ridge for the rest of that window are different species and arrive in a different rhythm. This year there's also a practical wrinkle. The park's construction project has closed the Willow Grove side, and that's the side many longtime visitors used to reach the watch.
What One Saturday Did to the 2026 Count
The Broad-winged flight decides whether a Cromwell Valley season looks big or small, and it swings hard from year to year. HawkCount's past season totals for the park show the range:
| Fall season | Total raptors | Broad-winged Hawks |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6,802 | 4,897 |
| 2022 | 14,618 | 12,294 |
| 2023 | 23,077 | 21,274 |
| 2024 | 1,914 | 286 |
| 2025 | 4,124 | 3,305 |
| 2026, through Oct. 3 | 5,503 | 4,736 |
With six weeks still to go, 2026 has already passed the full-season totals for 2024 and 2025. It's nowhere near 2023. The gap between 2023 and 2024 comes almost entirely from Broad-winged Hawks, which travel in large groups and can pass a single watch point on one good afternoon or miss it altogether.
The watch has a track record of those single-day bursts. The park opened in 1993. Birders were keeping unofficial counts by 1999, and the site history credits two days in September 2001, with 2,288 Broad-winged Hawks on the 16th and 2,188 on the 17th, for pushing the counts toward more formal record-keeping. By 2004 the reports were going to the Hawk Migration Association of North America.
The geography explains why the valley works. The watch sits on the south slope of a ridge, and the valley's ridges run northeast to southwest, which steers southbound migrants into the valley.
The October Flight Is Already Different
Broad-winged Hawks have mostly cleared out. Only two showed up in the first three days of October. The 94 raptors counted from October 1 to 3 were a much more mixed group:
- 46 Sharp-shinned Hawks
- 16 American Kestrels
- 10 Cooper's Hawks
- 7 Bald Eagles
- 5 Ospreys
- 4 Northern Harriers
- 3 Peregrine Falcons
- 1 Merlin
The pace picked up through the weekend, with 10 birds on October 1, 22 on October 2 and 62 on October 3. Saturday's 62 included 32 Sharp-shinned Hawks, 13 kestrels and all three Peregrines.
Those 94 birds came in 15 observer hours. All of October 2025 produced 159 raptors in 27 observer hours, led by 71 Sharp-shinned Hawks. October 2024 was stronger, with 557 raptors, including 235 Sharp-shinned, 94 Red-tailed and 83 Red-shouldered Hawks. The last three Octobers came in at 459 in 2023, 557 in 2024 and 159 in 2025, and the park's best October on record reached 2,889.
November Belongs to the Big Buteos
As the season winds down, the mix shifts again, toward Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks. Recent Novembers at the watch:
- 2023: 704 raptors, with 250 Red-shouldered and 222 Red-tailed Hawks
- 2024: 520 raptors, with 183 Red-tailed and 170 Red-shouldered Hawks
- 2025: 254 raptors, with 74 Red-tailed, 65 Red-shouldered and 41 Sharp-shinned Hawks
Late in the season you also have a slim chance at a Golden Eagle. The park's HawkCount profile puts the average at 3 per season, with a high of 6 in 2013, and its notable single-day counts fall in November.
Timing still matters more than the calendar. Hawk Mountain Sanctuary says autumn flights are strongest on northwest winds after a cold front, one to two days after it passes, and that raptor variety peaks in late October. A clear, breezy morning after the first real cold snap is worth an early start.
Getting to the Watch This Fall Starts at Sherwood
The park's enhancement project began in March 2026, and Baltimore County estimates it will finish in spring 2027. The county's current access picture:
- Sherwood entrance: open throughout the project.
- Willow Grove entrance: closed, expected to reopen in February 2027.
- Nature Center area: closed for the full project. Its parking lot is unavailable from February 2026 through January 2027.
- Merrick Road access and parking: closed from July 2026 through January 2027. Parking is available at Sherwood House during that time.
This matters for hawk watchers because the watch site is at the highest point of the paved road between Sherwood Farm and Willow Grove. The Cromwell Valley Park Council's birding page, written in 2025, gives the Willow Grove lot as the way in. That approach doesn't work this season. Counts were still being entered daily through October 3. The county page doesn't say whether the walking route to the watch point is open on every construction day, though, and it notes that some areas may close temporarily as work moves around the park.
The county posted its most recent construction update on Thursday, September 24. Storm drains are finished, light poles are up, and the parking lot has been graded. Next come curbs, final retaining-wall concrete and landscaping. Since the page is updated weekly, check it before you head out.
When the work is done, the park will have a new pavilion, an accessible path with interpretive signs, expanded parking at Sherwood House and Willow Grove, a wider Willow Grove entrance road and an improved Barnitorium entrance path.
The Dates Left in the Count Season
Monday, October 5: First-Monday naturalist bird walk, meeting at the Sherwood Lawn Parking Area. Registration is required.
Tuesday, October 6: The Baltimore Bird Club's weekly Tuesday walk following fall migration, 8 to 11 a.m., open to beginners.
Saturday, October 10: The Fall Harvest and Arts Festival, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Sherwood side at 2002 Cromwell Bridge Road. Parking is $5 per vehicle, no registration is needed, and the festival goes ahead rain or shine. From sunrise until 4 p.m., the park is open only to festival attendees. The lineup includes live birds-of-prey demonstrations and scheduled Hawk Watch talks on counting and identifying migrating birds, plus cider-making, hay scrambling, a goat exhibit, art vendors, live music and food trucks. The Baltimore Bird Club will have a family-birding booth. The county's general program guide lists parking at $6, but the festival flyer and event calendar both say $5.
Sunday, October 11: The Less-Walked Path, a 9 to 11 a.m. guided hike on the park's lesser-known connecting back trails. It's $3 and open to ages 8 and up.
Thursday, October 22: Project FeederWatch training. The program then runs weekly through April 2027.
Saturday, October 31: Halloween Trail Trek.
Monday, November 2: The next first-Monday bird walk, again from the Sherwood Lawn Parking Area, registration required.
Saturday, November 7: Harvest & Seed Swap.
Saturday, November 14: Last day of the fall count. The same morning, Lake Roland hosts its free Dam Jam Festival from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The free morning bird walks continue most Saturdays from 8 to 10 a.m. for ages 14 and up. The free Senior Strolls for ages 55 and up continue on Wednesdays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., led by a naturalist on some of the park's easier trails. For more around town, see our Towson neighborhood guide and our roundup of Towson spots for dining, shopping and fun.
At Coastal Realm Northeast, we track Towson the way the counters track the ridge, day by day and street by street. If your home is a few minutes from Cromwell Bridge Road and you'd like to know what it's worth this season, request a same-day valuation and we'll send you real numbers. Get My Valuation
