How about seeing tens of thousands of raptors soaring overhead? Welcome to Hawk Hill. It is the best vantage point to witness the fall raptor migration. This unique site in the Marin Headlands is steeped in military history. It plays an important role in the vitality of endangered mission blue butterflies.
Hawk Hill offers a prime vantage point. You can view thousands of hawks, eagles, falcons, and vultures. They are collectively known as raptors. It is also lauded as the most spectacular view of the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco skyline.
If you’re visiting Hawk Hill to see hawks, visit during their migratory period. Typically, that lasts from August to December. Visit any other time of the year. You can still enjoy the views, the mission blue butterfly population, and the historical monument.
Hawk Hill has its own weather. What’s happening in your Bay Area neighborhood may bear no resemblance to the weather conditions on the Hill. Bring more clothes than you think you will need. Some essentials to bring, depending on weather, are a hat for shade or warmth, windbreaker, insulation wool, down, or synthetic, gloves, sunglasses, sunscreen, and chapstick. Also bring your own food and beverages. There are no food facilities in the Headlands. Please, no alcoholic beverages. Leashed dogs are allowed. Don’t forget binoculars and field guides.
As many as 19 different species of raptors may be seen from Hawk Hill in the fall. Many are migrating from their northern summer breeding grounds to their more southern overwintering spots. Others, such as juvenile Red-Tailed Hawks, may be dispersing in search of new territories. Hawks and turkey vultures are the most prominent raptors that come through the area.
Hawk Hill, standing 923 feet above the entry to the Golden Gate in the Marin Headlands, offers unobstructed views of San Francisco and the surrounding area. Hawk Hill’s location was of great interest to the United States Army during the Second World War. In 1942, army engineers began constructing a coast artillery battery to protect the entrance to the Bay. Two gun positions and underground storage areas were carved into the mountain. Designated as Battery Construction 129, it would be similar to Battery Townsley, located a few short miles northwest.
Yet by 1944, the two 153-ton guns were already obsolete. Designed to fend off battleships, they couldn’t protect against aircraft. So construction was abandoned. Of the many gun batteries located throughout the Marin Headlands, Battery Construction 129 was the only one to never receive an official name. Unlike most of the World War II fortifications built in the park to defend against battleships, Battery 129—now known as Hawk Hill—was built to defend against attacks from the air.
Battery 129 had two large guns mounted under thick concrete shields covered with native vegetation for camouflage. It was virtually invisible from above. It features tunnels that connect the two gunpits, magazines, and storage rooms. After Pearl Harbor, anti-aircraft guns were installed, and radar stations were developed.
The Cold War brought a new military purpose for Hawk Hill. The Marin Headlands was the site of two Nike nuclear missile defensive sites. The top of Hawk Hill served as the radar and launch control center for Nike Site SF 87L. Construction started in 1954, and the site was operational until SF-87 was deactivated in 1971. All of the buildings on Hawk Hill were removed. But traces such as concrete foundations and radar pads remain today.
Isn’t it amazing that Hawk Hill is not only a place of natural beauty? It is also a place of strategic importance. It offers us a glimpse into the past and a chance to appreciate the present.