As raptors are funneled into the Keys from Southern Florida, they face a wide area of scattered islands.  However, as they approach the Middle Keys these narrow to a single string of relatively small islands.  In an effort to stick to land, raptors are funneled into an area often only a few hundred feet wide!  Because of this, the narrowest section of the Keys is the best place to observe the migration.  Our site at Curry Hammock State Park is located within this narrow band on Little Crawl Key.

As raptors approach the end of Key West they face a problem-- the end of visible land and a lot of water!  While this seems to present no problem to some species such as Peregrine Falcons, other species may decide against making the crossing.  Species such as Turkey Vultures and Broad-winged Hawks will often turn around and head back up the Keys.  For this reason we count northbound and southbound raptors separately.  We can then subtract the northbound from the southbound sightings to get the number (called “net”) we think went south and kept going.  However, we often report the gross total sightings (north plus south = “gross”), as many birdwatchers would like to know how many birds they can count on seeing in a day.