Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists (21 Apr 2025) 28 Raptors
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Apr 22, 2025, 12:39:20 AM4/22/25
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Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists
Golden, Colorado, USA
Visitors:
Thank you to today's volunteers Clay Gibson, Ruth Artes, Mike Serruto, and Laura Hollenbaugh! Your help in spotting raptors and sticking out the winds is greatly appreciated. A total of 18 people visited the ridge today, a handful of them familiar faces to the ridge from this year or previous years. Can't make it out to the ridge and still want to follow along? Check out our Trektellen page and follow along with live updates at https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/4515/20250301 .
Weather:
It was a windy day on the ridge today with winds being at 15-20 km/h from the start of the count. Winds came from the NW to SW all day, gusting up to speeds of ~40 km/h. The sun was out for a lot of the day, and clouds were scattered across the sky.
Raptor Observations:
Migration was understandably slow again today with our high W winds. We still saw some birds moving, many of them coming overhead the site. Turkey Vultures migrated generally higher than the local TVs were flying today. A sub-adult Golden Eagle was seen booking it N across Green Mountain. The bird was briefly stopped by two local Red-tailed Hawks that dove at the eagle, but the eagle continued N on a mission. A late migrant for us indeed, but all signs pointed to migration. Local Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vulture activity kept us busy today even when we didn't have migrants in the air. 3+ of each species was often seen somewhere around us, sometimes spotted moving N. Many RT were seen kiting and performing aerial displays. The local Peregrine Falcons were seen briefly flying together near Mt Morrison. Both birds went down to the Red Rocks area.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Merganser 9, White-throated Swift 50, Northern Flicker 1, Say's Phoebe 4, Black-billed Magpie 1, Common Raven 3, Black-capped Chickadee 1, Rock Wren 1, Townsend's Solitaire 2, American Robin 4, Spotted Towhee 2, Western Meadowlark 1
Predictions:
Winds shift back to the E tomorrow hopefully bringing a bigger push of birds than we've been seeing the last few days. Partial cloud cover is expected for most of the day.
Report submitted by Official Counter of the day shown above (dinor...@gmail.com)
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: www.dinosaurridgehawkwatch.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
Hawk Counter(s) and volunteers from March through early May.
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)
Golden, Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 21, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 13 | 271 | 312 |
| Osprey | 1 | 47 | 51 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 14 | 41 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 34 | 42 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 168 | 196 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 5 | 170 | 219 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 1 | 80 | 80 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 145 | 410 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 12 | 27 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 4 | 23 |
| American Kestrel | 7 | 415 | 517 |
| Merlin | 0 | 9 | 14 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 5 | 6 |
| Total: | 28 | 1402 | 1975 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Emma Riley |
| Observers: | Clay Gibson, Laura Hollenbaugh, Mike Serruto, Ruth Artes |
Visitors:
Thank you to today's volunteers Clay Gibson, Ruth Artes, Mike Serruto, and Laura Hollenbaugh! Your help in spotting raptors and sticking out the winds is greatly appreciated. A total of 18 people visited the ridge today, a handful of them familiar faces to the ridge from this year or previous years. Can't make it out to the ridge and still want to follow along? Check out our Trektellen page and follow along with live updates at https://www.trektellen.org/count/view/4515/20250301 .
Weather:
It was a windy day on the ridge today with winds being at 15-20 km/h from the start of the count. Winds came from the NW to SW all day, gusting up to speeds of ~40 km/h. The sun was out for a lot of the day, and clouds were scattered across the sky.
Raptor Observations:
Migration was understandably slow again today with our high W winds. We still saw some birds moving, many of them coming overhead the site. Turkey Vultures migrated generally higher than the local TVs were flying today. A sub-adult Golden Eagle was seen booking it N across Green Mountain. The bird was briefly stopped by two local Red-tailed Hawks that dove at the eagle, but the eagle continued N on a mission. A late migrant for us indeed, but all signs pointed to migration. Local Red-tailed Hawk and Turkey Vulture activity kept us busy today even when we didn't have migrants in the air. 3+ of each species was often seen somewhere around us, sometimes spotted moving N. Many RT were seen kiting and performing aerial displays. The local Peregrine Falcons were seen briefly flying together near Mt Morrison. Both birds went down to the Red Rocks area.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Merganser 9, White-throated Swift 50, Northern Flicker 1, Say's Phoebe 4, Black-billed Magpie 1, Common Raven 3, Black-capped Chickadee 1, Rock Wren 1, Townsend's Solitaire 2, American Robin 4, Spotted Towhee 2, Western Meadowlark 1
Predictions:
Winds shift back to the E tomorrow hopefully bringing a bigger push of birds than we've been seeing the last few days. Partial cloud cover is expected for most of the day.
Report submitted by Official Counter of the day shown above (dinor...@gmail.com)
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: www.dinosaurridgehawkwatch.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
Hawk Counter(s) and volunteers from March through early May.
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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