Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists (11 Apr 2024) 49 Raptors
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Apr 11, 2024, 11:33:53 PM4/11/24
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Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists
Colorado, USA
Visitors:
We had 18 visitors to the ridge today. One of these visiters was a paraglider who was only about 50 feet above us. After we waved to him, he started to show off and do these tight spins and turns.
Weather:
Today was a warm, sunny day with little cloud cover. The wind was an Eastern wind today. It started more Northeast and finished more Southeast. There was a bad haze all day today, and it most likely affected our ability to find distant migrants.
Raptor Observations:
We had a lot of potential migrants get very high in the air before turning around and going back to the ground. Most of our actual migrants were either very high up or below our eye-line. We had an osprey fly by us with a fish, a snack on his long journey North. We had a different osprey land on top of a telephone pole above Mount Morrison and eat a fish up there. We didn't see that osprey leave, so we didn't count this bird as a migrant because it could of easily gone any direction but north. Our last 15 migrants occurred within the last 25 minutes of the survey. There were 8 red-tailed hawks in the air at the same time, but only two left. Three red-tailed were as high as you could possibly see, diving at each other, but none went north. We saw a lot of local Red-tails today, even more than usual, and their activity was constant and throughout the day. We also had a local Golden Eagle, a local Coopers, and a local Peregrine.
Non-raptor Observations:
We saw two groups of four American White Pelicans, some White-throated Swifts, and the elk with the 3 and a half legs. This elk is the same as Emma saw yesterday, it looked to be a young male missing everything below his heel on his back left leg. He still seems to be moving pretty good, as one minute he was there and the next we couldn't find him on the slope again.
Predictions:
Tomorrow should be a warm day reaching the 70s. It should start sunny and we should see clouds build throughout the day. The wind should start in the Southeast/East and end in the West/Northwest.
Report submitted by Official Counter (j.f.pe...@gmail.com)
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: http://www.dfobirds.org
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Site Description
Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the
best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may
see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare
dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson’s hawk, Ferruginous
hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden
and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons,
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey
Vultures. American Goshawk is uncommon but also counted each season. Non-raptor
species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane,
White-throated Swift, American White Pelican, and Dusky Grouse. Birders of any
skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by a
Hawk Counter and volunteers from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM from March 1st to May 10th,
weather permitting.
Directions to site:
From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left
into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow hawk watch signs from the
southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch site. The hike starts heading
east on an old two-track and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side
of the ridge. When the trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, and walk to
the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain:
259 feet)
Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 11, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 16 | 145 | 175 |
| Osprey | 2 | 11 | 17 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 6 | 36 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 4 | 9 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 15 | 31 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 6 | 50 | 71 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 8 | 82 | 343 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 3 | 15 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 4 | 15 |
| American Kestrel | 13 | 112 | 134 |
| Merlin | 0 | 3 | 7 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Total: | 49 | 451 | 877 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Dustin Kohler |
| Observers: | Dave Erickson, Emma Riley, Jane Haddock, Janet Peters, Karen Fernandez, Mariane Erickson |
Visitors:
We had 18 visitors to the ridge today. One of these visiters was a paraglider who was only about 50 feet above us. After we waved to him, he started to show off and do these tight spins and turns.
Weather:
Today was a warm, sunny day with little cloud cover. The wind was an Eastern wind today. It started more Northeast and finished more Southeast. There was a bad haze all day today, and it most likely affected our ability to find distant migrants.
Raptor Observations:
We had a lot of potential migrants get very high in the air before turning around and going back to the ground. Most of our actual migrants were either very high up or below our eye-line. We had an osprey fly by us with a fish, a snack on his long journey North. We had a different osprey land on top of a telephone pole above Mount Morrison and eat a fish up there. We didn't see that osprey leave, so we didn't count this bird as a migrant because it could of easily gone any direction but north. Our last 15 migrants occurred within the last 25 minutes of the survey. There were 8 red-tailed hawks in the air at the same time, but only two left. Three red-tailed were as high as you could possibly see, diving at each other, but none went north. We saw a lot of local Red-tails today, even more than usual, and their activity was constant and throughout the day. We also had a local Golden Eagle, a local Coopers, and a local Peregrine.
Non-raptor Observations:
We saw two groups of four American White Pelicans, some White-throated Swifts, and the elk with the 3 and a half legs. This elk is the same as Emma saw yesterday, it looked to be a young male missing everything below his heel on his back left leg. He still seems to be moving pretty good, as one minute he was there and the next we couldn't find him on the slope again.
Predictions:
Tomorrow should be a warm day reaching the 70s. It should start sunny and we should see clouds build throughout the day. The wind should start in the Southeast/East and end in the West/Northwest.
Report submitted by Official Counter (j.f.pe...@gmail.com)
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: http://www.dfobirds.org
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Site Description
Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the
best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may
see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare
dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson’s hawk, Ferruginous
hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden
and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons,
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey
Vultures. American Goshawk is uncommon but also counted each season. Non-raptor
species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane,
White-throated Swift, American White Pelican, and Dusky Grouse. Birders of any
skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by a
Hawk Counter and volunteers from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM from March 1st to May 10th,
weather permitting.
Directions to site:
From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left
into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow hawk watch signs from the
southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch site. The hike starts heading
east on an old two-track and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side
of the ridge. When the trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, and walk to
the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain:
259 feet)
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