Each fall at Militia Hill Hawk Watch, dedicated volunteers count and monitor migrating raptors, providing valuable information about bird population health and migratory dynamics. The Militia Hill Hawk Watch began in 1988 with a small group of volunteers, a stack of compilers’ sheets and a card table. Today, Militia Hill is a recognized observation facility with two observation decks, a butterfly garden, bird feeders and a library of information about birds, insects, amphibians and plants. Volunteers submit daily records of raptor migration to the Hawk Migration Association of North America. At Fort Washington, the Friends of Fort Washington State Park also hold a park cleanup day each April and several workdays throughout the year, maintaining gardens, clearing trails and planting trees. The American kestrel, a small falcon about the size of a blue jay, uses holes in dead trees instead of building nests, and because land owners often remove dead trees, the birds have fewer places to live than they used to; people can help by building a simple wooden nestbox and attaching it to a pole or tree in an open field.