Mount Watatic is a 1,832-foot monadnock located just south of the Massachusetts–New Hampshire border at the southern end of the Wapack Range of mountains. It lies within Ashburnham and Ashby, in Massachusetts, and New Ipswich, in New Hampshire; the 22 miles Wapack Trail and the 92-mile Midstate Trail both cross the mountain. The Yellow Arrow trail is 1.1 mile. Public parking for a half-hour (one way) hike to the summit is located on MA-119.

The name is probably a corruption of the Native American term Wetu-tick, “wigwam brook,” and probably applied first to the nearby large stream and thereafter to the mountain and the pond.

The east and south side of the mountain drains into the Souhegan River watershed, to the Merrimack River thence the Atlantic Ocean; the west and north sides drain into the Millers River watershed, to the Connecticut River, thence into Long Island Sound.

Mount Watatic was the site of a ski area that operated from 1965 until 1984. An attempt to reopen the ski area in 1988 failed. The bald summit of the mountain featured a fire tower, open to the public, until its removal in 1996.

About Mount Watatic Important Bird Area
Mount Watatic, elevation 1,832 feet extending is part of an archipelago of summits called the Wapack Range rising out of the Worcester Plateau and extending into southern New Hampshire. Mount Watatic shares geologic and vegetative characteristics similar to those on both Mount Wachusett, 17 miles to the south, and Pack Monadnock, 12 miles to the north. Mount Watatic and the other peaks of the archipelago are part of a range of mountains consisting of crystalline rocks that extend from Connecticut through central Massachusetts and on into southern New Hampshire and Maine. With its spruce-covered summit, the mountain is home to many Northern bird species, including the Olive-sided Flycatcher, Winter Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and Magnolia Warbler. Other breeding species include the Sharp-shinned Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and White-throated Sparrow. During September thermals and updrafts off the summit often attract unusually large numbers of migrating Broad-winged Hawks. Over 14,000 of this species were reported each September in 2000 and 2001. As the southern terminus of the Wapack Range, it also attracts many of the late-season, ridge-flying migrants, including the Sharp-shinned and Cooper’s Hawk, Northern Goshawk, and Red-shouldered Hawk, as well as impressive numbers of Bald and Golden Eagles.

Mount Watatic is one of the premier hawk migration and observation sites in the Northeast. The summit was first used as a fall hawk migration count site in 1977 by Paul and Julie Roberts, on behalf of the Eastern Massachusetts Hawk Watch (EMHW), the NorthEast Hawk Watch (NEHW), and the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA). Consistent fall hawk migration coverage was established in 1988. Hawk watchers have recorded an average of 13,231 hawks annually each fall over the past five years, averaging 258 hours of observation during that period. An average of 8,368 hawks have been recorded each fall since 1988, during an average 161 hours of observation. The spring hawk migration is believed to be considerably smaller than the fall migration and has been documented only intermittently over the past 24 years. The summit of the mountain provides an excellent location to view other migrants, including Canada and Snow Geese, Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, Common Ravens, Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, and other waterfowl, warblers, and winter finches.