THE HAWKSTERS
Hal Cohen, The Hawk Guy, moved to Borrego Springs, California in 2001. He spends his time studying bird migration, specializing in the migration of Swainson's Hawks.
Hal taught Field Natural History and Ornithology at the College of DuPage near Chicago for 38 years. In 1998 he was selected Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation, Washington DC.
Hal graduated from the University of Illinois with a BA degree in Political Science and from Chicago State University with an MS degree in Biology. As a postgraduate, he spent half a year at the University of Miami studying marine biology. Hal received National Science Foundation Grants to study ecology at California State/Long Beach and marine ecology at Stanford University. Hal has traveled worldwide and taught classes on every continent including Antarctica.
Tracee a biology major at the University of Victoria, first visited Borrego Springs in the 1980’s as part of a botany and birding field trip. After graduating, Tracee moved to Seattle but was able to visit Borrego Springs several times over the next 20 years. Her addiction to the Anza Borrego desert was cemented. Tracee retired in 2019 following a career in fisheries and almost immediately returned to the desert for the sun, botany and birds. The 2020 hawk watch had just started and after a chance meeting with founder Hal Cohen, Tracee was hooked and recruited . The rest is history as the Borrego Creep set in and she is now a count leader and one of the regular human migrants to the Borrego Valley Hawkwatch.
Candace was born in Los Ángeles, California and raised in upstate New York. She was employed in Music Education and Speech and Language services Pre-K through 12. She began her life-long birding hobby as an early teen. Her focus on Raptor migration began after retirement, both in the Northeast, and cross country in the Southwest. A family history in Borrego Springs opened the way to a chance viewing of over 600 Swainson’s Hawks gliding in formation into the Valley one evening, and to a chance meeting with “Hawk Guy” Hal Cohen on the hunt for roosting Swainson’s Hawks. As happens to a small cohort of birdwatchers, counting and trying to understand migrating raptors became a delightful part of Candace’s life.
THE HAWKSTER CREW
HAWK ALERT is the latest documentary by the award winning team of Alicia Wszelaki and Matthew Nothelfer. Their Path 88 Productions studio has been writing, producing, directing and editing domestic and international projects for the last three decades.
Their documentaries combine social issues with education, while inspiring others to make change. Their film credits include Flying Fur, a film about animal rescue, The Newsletter, a story of Japanese journalists, Camino The Journey to Santiago, a voyage into an ancient pilgrimage, and A Gift For All Ages, a narrative film about the magic of Christmas. For more information, visit www.path88productions.com
As a director, producer and editor, Alicia’s passion is telling other people’s stories. Alicia lives in San Diego, California with her husband, and amazing rescue dog Teddy. She is part-owner of Path 88 Productions, which produces travel films and inspirational documentaries. She enjoys being outside and has walked both the Camino de Santiago, and Japan’s 88 Temples pilgrimages … twice.
Matthew has directed documentary shorts, documentary feature films, narrative shorts, and narrative features. Over the past three decades his career has been spent mostly on the road. He has traveled to all continents on the globe as a photographer, videographer, and cinematographer. Matthew currently lives in Borrego Springs, California and is part-owner of the media company Path 88 Productions.