A popular birdwatching area in our area has been named the second best birdwatching location in the country.

The top 10 best Readers' Choice awards, chosen by the readers of USA Today and 10Best.com, have selected Hawk Mountain Sanctuary in Kempton as number 2, below only Magee Marsh in Ohio.Mary Linkevich, director of communications and grants at Hawk Mountain, said it is an honor for the sanctuary."We're thrilled to have made the 10 Best, and it's great that the top two Magee Marsh, Ohio, and Hawk Mountain Sanctuary are both two locations operated by not-for-profit organizations," she said. "For Hawk Mountain, the publicity from winning a national contest means the chance to connect more people with our conservation mission, and the added bonus is that we also get to promote travel to the region."Already visitors to Hawk Mountain make an enormous economic impact, and being named one of the 10 Best means we can increase that impact," Linkevich said.In addition to Magee Marsh and Hawk Mountain, Bosque del Apache, New Mexico; Platte River Valley, Nebraska; Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, Texas; Sanibel Island, Florida; Dauphin Island, Alabama; Cape May, New Jersey; Lower Rio Grande Valley, Texas; and Southeastern, Arizona, rounded out the top 10 list.The winners of the 10 Best contests are promoted across the USA Today Travel Media Group's digital and mobile products, as well as via social media.Hawk Mountain Sanctuary is a nonprofit organization that aims to conserve birds of prey worldwide by providing leadership in raptor conservation science and education and by maintaining the lands on Hawk Mountain for observing, research and educational purposes.For more information on Hawk Mountain or events taking place, visit

www.hawkmountain.org.