3 Broad-winged Hawks, Boulder, 4/18

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Thomas Heinrich

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Apr 18, 2020, 1:25:25 PM4/18/20
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Seems a good day for raptor migration:
Just had an Osprey, 3 Broad-winged Hawks, and group of 6 Turkey Vultures over my house below Mt Sanitas in Boulder. Also have had two Red-tailed Hawks, several Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned, and a falcon sp. A flock of 12 White-throated Swifts was over the Newlands neighborhood.


Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO
Nyc...@aol.com

Christian Nunes

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Apr 18, 2020, 4:21:18 PM4/18/20
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There is a once in a lifetime movement of migrating raptors along the Boulder Foothills today. A major pulse started at 1:45. Single flock of 28 Broadwings the highlight so far. No dark-morphs yet, but one’s bound to pass.image1.png

Christian Nunes
Boulder
Currently at the mouth of Shadow Canyon having a ball.
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DAVID J WALTMAN

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Apr 18, 2020, 5:53:35 PM4/18/20
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Just had a Broad-winged perched in a tree near my house in foothills between Boulder and Lyons.
david Waltman 
Boulder

Thomas Heinrich

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Apr 18, 2020, 6:01:02 PM4/18/20
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What an incredible experience to witness the raptor migration today!  Great that you caught it too, Christian.   I was wondering if the dark clouds down by NCAR had, as you put it, “shut off the tap.”   Over by Mt Sanitas the flow dramatically lessened about 2:15, with a few stragglers until about 2:45.  

The Broad-winged Hawks came mostly in groups of 3 or 4, often rising along with T Vultures in a thermal somewhere near the mouths of Boulder and Sunshine Canyons.  Thought I had a dark morph as well, but will need to check photos.  The big sudden rush occurred from about 1:30-2:00, punctuated by the quick flyover of 7 Thunderbirds.  I didn’t have quite as high tallies and # of species here, but likely missed many individuals flying out of view just west off the Dakota Ridge.  Here’s a rough list:

2 Golden Eagles
3 American Kestrels
1 Prairie Falcon 
1 Peregrine Falcon
7 Osprey
20-25 Broad-winged Hawks
10-15 Red-tailed Hawks
31 Turkey Vultures
5 Sharp-shinned Hawks
9 Cooper’s Hawks
Possible Swainson’s Hawk

75-100 White-throated Swift

A few years ago, when hiking Mt Sanitas with my brother Christof, we happened to witness an impressive raptor migration, though not nearly as thrilling as today’s.  It was a bit earlier in the season, followed several days of wet/snowy weather, and had a similarly patchy-to-overcast cloud cover.  It seemed, like today, the raptors sensed the window of opportunity and high-tailed it north.  

Still have a few Cassin’s Finches hanging around after the storm, now present for seven days straight, which is definitely unusual. 

Hope those north of Boulder get to enjoy the raptors!

Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO

On Apr 18, 2020, at 2:51 PM, Christian Nunes <paja...@hotmail.com> wrote:

They’re on their way, Arvind! A snow squall has rolled in and shut off the tap down here. I’m pretty happy with my tally of 53 BWHA, including crushing looks at 3 dark-morphs. 

Christian

On Apr 18, 2020, at 2:45 PM, arvind panjabi <apan...@yahoo.com> wrote:

Out on my deck here in the Larimer county foothills...looking and waiting.  I’m three hog backs in from the edge.  Will post if I see anything.  Had a sharpie this morning, goshawk two days ago.


Arvind Panjabi


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

On Saturday, April 18, 2020, 2:21 PM, Christian Nunes <paja...@hotmail.com> wrote:

There is a once in a lifetime movement of migrating raptors along the Boulder Foothills today. A major pulse started at 1:45. Single flock of 28 Broadwings the highlight so far. No dark-morphs yet, but one’s bound to pass.<image1.png>


Christian Nunes
Boulder
Currently at the mouth of Shadow Canyon having a ball.

On Apr 18, 2020, at 11:25 AM, Thomas Heinrich <tehei...@gmail.com> wrote:

Seems a good day for raptor migration:
Just had an Osprey, 3 Broad-winged Hawks, and group of 6 Turkey Vultures over my house below Mt Sanitas in Boulder.   Also have had two Red-tailed Hawks, several Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned, and a falcon sp.  A flock of 12 White-throated Swifts was over the Newlands neighborhood.  


Thomas Heinrich
Boulder, CO
Nyc...@aol.com

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Robert Raker

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Apr 18, 2020, 6:52:26 PM4/18/20
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I had a similar experience down at Platte Canyon Reservoir, 2 Osprey, 2 Broad-winged Hawks, 12 Turkey Vultures and a Bald and Golden Eagle thrown in for good measure. 

Robert Raker
Lakewood, CO

Willem van Vliet

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Apr 18, 2020, 9:34:02 PM4/18/20
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One broad-winged hawk at 16:15, initially readily identifiable and then soaring above the Flagstaff amphitheatre to a very great height till I could barely make out its silhouette (with 10x42 binos).

Willem van Vliet--
Boulder

Christian Nunes

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Apr 18, 2020, 11:53:21 PM4/18/20
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Hi all, 

An update from my field report earlier today. I ultimately counted 53 migrating Broad-winged Hawks, including 3 adult dark-morphs. Some other interesting sightings in the area (Shadow Canyon Trail, Boulder OSMP) included a singing Band-tailed Pigeon, a pair of Eastern Bluebirds (in the open area about 0.25 mile up the South Mesa Trail from the South Mesa Trailhead- an area where they are seen annually), and some Red Crossbills that I think are not of the expected type. Still working on analyzing the spectrograms to see if there are any clues. Also at least one singing Cassin's Finch, a species that has been notably absent from the region despite a bumper crop of Ponderosa Pine cones. They certainly did arrive with the recent snows. Two checklists with more details:


Christian Nunes

Boulder, CO 


From: cob...@googlegroups.com <cob...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Christian Nunes <paja...@hotmail.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2020 4:21 PM
To: tehei...@gmail.com <tehei...@gmail.com>
Cc: cob...@googlegroups.com <cob...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] 3 Broad-winged Hawks, Boulder, 4/18
 
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