A Boulder Audubon Walk at Rabbit Mt. that turned into a Hawk Watch [Boulder County]

[Carl Starace]

 Birders,     As I arrived at Rabbit Mt.,[just south of Lyons], this morning, about 7:30, I was met by John Breitsch who had just seen 74 American Kestrel pass within about 45 minutes. Wow.Just not something either of us expected today.We then continued to count Kestrels for another 40 minutes and ended up with 109 birds. But that wasn't all. A flock of 13 Long billed Curlew passed right over us. Then it was 10 Great Blue Heron. We also had another shorebird flock of 10,[ appeared to be Dowitchers] that was just a little too far out to Id. I told the group that maybe we'd skip the hike altogether and just sit tight. But when a lull occurred we went up to the ridgeline and all 6 of us had vocals and visuals of a pair of Canyon Wren. Three hours later we were downslope watching an immature Bald Eagle get royally harassed by 2 Redtails and a very persistent Raven while an adult Bald Eagle watched on a much higher sphere. Good April Birding,        Carl Starace, Niwot