Lexus Magazine, Summer 2005 - Dream Jobs

Hawk Eyed

White caps roll in to shore on Lake Ontario as a chilly breeze rustles the trees framing the open field of Braddock Bay in Upstate New York. On a lone, slightly akimbo wooden platform, Tim Smart, 47, keeps his binoculars trained on the sky, waiting for hawks to migrate by. Wind, sleet, and snow, he's at his post, keeping tally of raptors as they hug the shoreline of the Great Lakes. "I'm here seven days a week," he says. "I arrive first thing in the morning and stay as long as the birds are flying."

Smart started birdwatching at the age of 12. About a decade later, after helping a friend net and tag hawks to study their routes — and having the privilege of holding the animals in his hands — birds of prey became his passionate hobby. A native of Michigan, he first traveled to Ontario to participate in counting raptors. In 1983, he set up his own hawk-counting platform in White Fish Point, Michigan, and recruited volunteers to tally and register the birds in the North American hawk count. The numbers of different species of raptors are used by universities across the country, as well by the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources in various states.

In 2000, after Smart got laid off from the auto plant he'd worked in and subsequently underwent heart surgery, he turned his bad luck (and free time) into something serendipitous. He decided to pursue his love for hawks as a full-time profession.

"My favorite part of this job is teaching people about hawks," he says. "Some get a bird for their birding list, and others get the thrill of seeing so many large birds at once."

Since 2000, Smart has counted hawks, eagles, vultures, and falcons throughout North America, from Canada to Mexico. In Vera Cruz, he helped tally a staggering 6.2 million birds of prey, including 2.5 million Broadwing Hawks, two million Turkey Vultures, and 1.4 million Swainson's Hawks. He's been working seasonally and traveling between Minnesota, Michigan, and Upstate New York. He hopes to hit Cape May, New Jersey, for the great autumnal count. Raptors continue to fascinate

Still, he says of his favorite, "Hawks are at the top of the food chain. They're an environmental barometer, and if they're dying off it means that deadly chemicals or other pollutants are endangering the eco-systems." Smart explains that hawks don't like to fly, preferring to soar along mountain ridges and follow updrafts and wind currents on their migratory routes. "These birds are so free and graceful," he says. "When you watch them, you want to be just like them."