Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (04 Apr 2025) 3 Raptors
33 views
Skip to first unread message
rep...@hawkcount.org
Apr 4, 2025, 7:30:26 PM4/4/25
to cob...@googlegroups.com
Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site and the state's second spring watch site. Many raptors seen c. 1.5 miles to the West from Dinosaur Ridge, may be directly overhead at this site, we are hoping. To get to the site which is along Lookout Mountain Rd. in Golden, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454. From the parking lot ascend the stone steps to the watch site. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT.
Visitors:
A young man, a city planner from Virginia after attending a conference at Winter Park and spending today sightseeing, describe this as the Stairway to Heaven; we had a long discussion on raptor migration, he told me he could see Bald Eagles from his office window. A family from Ohio was curious about my activities. A young man asked me whether I was from India, and when did I go home last, and this is a question a few of my patients used to ask me when I practiced urology in New York, and my answer was the same "Last night." He said his mother was English and came to the US when she was 8 months pregnant with him, and he thinks of England as home.
Weather:
The forecast was for light NNE winds with gusts to 18 mph with a 60% chance of snow by 10:00 a.m. and heavier snow by 1:00 p.m. According to earth.nullschool.net the winds at 700 hPa (which would correspond to an elevation of 9,800 ft, around 2700 ft above the level of the watch) were predicted from the NNE at 35 km/h, which direction corresponded to the surface forecast. At the watch the winds were variably from the SW but also from the NE and East at various times. The Soaring Forecast was poor with 0 m/s lift! Ridges and conifers were dusted with white, very pretty. There were a few flakes of snow in the first 2 hours, then began sleeting with 2 mm size pellets for the rest of the watch. I wondered whether raptors would migrate through sleet, and found from the internet that they could, so I stayed.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was at 10:07 a.m. MDT, an adult BE seen 5 Km to the NE at the North end of North Table Mountain, and which did not have much lift, and dropped, but soared NNE. At 10:25 a.m. an adult GE was seen using binoculars over Lookout Mountain, it perched on the microwave tower to the West of the mountain, and when two Ravens passed by a minute later, dove down on one of them, did the territorial rollercoaster dive, then came almost directly overhead quite low, then was chased by a raven and soared to the NE, where it had no lift and dropped. This was an eye opener for me in that I thought that an eagle could be seen with the naked eye over Lookout Mountain, however it is 1 km/0.6 miles away, and I learned that I need to do even more binocular scanning to the South to find smaller hawks. At 10:37 a.m. a small dot was seen at the top of Green Mountain next to the antenna, less than a minute later it probably caught a ridge lift and was high over the north end of Green Mountain, in my scope it was an adult RT which lost height, flapped and glided to the north. Non-migraine raptors: BE immature, at 10:51 a.m. a naked eye seen eagle over North Table Mountain flew SW along Clear Creek Canyon, it had a lot of white on the dorsal wings, either a very pale individual or one which was severely bleached; RT 1 kiting and hovering over Lookout Mountain, and me trying to make it into an RL, except it had an uniformly colored tail, an immature which landed on a tree.
Non-raptor Observations:
Townsend's Solitaire 2 both calling and singing, Dark-eyed Junco 1, Common Raven 2, American Crow 2.
Predictions:
Light North-based Winds becoming East by 10:00 a.m., later becoming NE.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aian...@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
This is an automated email report from hawkcount.org.
If you do not wish to receive these reports, please send email to unsub...@hawkcount.org to unsubscribe.
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site and the state's second spring watch site. Many raptors seen c. 1.5 miles to the West from Dinosaur Ridge, may be directly overhead at this site, we are hoping. To get to the site which is along Lookout Mountain Rd. in Golden, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454. From the parking lot ascend the stone steps to the watch site. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT.
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 04, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 1 | 33 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 3 | 17 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total: | 3 | 8 | 77 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 11:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 3.5 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
A young man, a city planner from Virginia after attending a conference at Winter Park and spending today sightseeing, describe this as the Stairway to Heaven; we had a long discussion on raptor migration, he told me he could see Bald Eagles from his office window. A family from Ohio was curious about my activities. A young man asked me whether I was from India, and when did I go home last, and this is a question a few of my patients used to ask me when I practiced urology in New York, and my answer was the same "Last night." He said his mother was English and came to the US when she was 8 months pregnant with him, and he thinks of England as home.
Weather:
The forecast was for light NNE winds with gusts to 18 mph with a 60% chance of snow by 10:00 a.m. and heavier snow by 1:00 p.m. According to earth.nullschool.net the winds at 700 hPa (which would correspond to an elevation of 9,800 ft, around 2700 ft above the level of the watch) were predicted from the NNE at 35 km/h, which direction corresponded to the surface forecast. At the watch the winds were variably from the SW but also from the NE and East at various times. The Soaring Forecast was poor with 0 m/s lift! Ridges and conifers were dusted with white, very pretty. There were a few flakes of snow in the first 2 hours, then began sleeting with 2 mm size pellets for the rest of the watch. I wondered whether raptors would migrate through sleet, and found from the internet that they could, so I stayed.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was at 10:07 a.m. MDT, an adult BE seen 5 Km to the NE at the North end of North Table Mountain, and which did not have much lift, and dropped, but soared NNE. At 10:25 a.m. an adult GE was seen using binoculars over Lookout Mountain, it perched on the microwave tower to the West of the mountain, and when two Ravens passed by a minute later, dove down on one of them, did the territorial rollercoaster dive, then came almost directly overhead quite low, then was chased by a raven and soared to the NE, where it had no lift and dropped. This was an eye opener for me in that I thought that an eagle could be seen with the naked eye over Lookout Mountain, however it is 1 km/0.6 miles away, and I learned that I need to do even more binocular scanning to the South to find smaller hawks. At 10:37 a.m. a small dot was seen at the top of Green Mountain next to the antenna, less than a minute later it probably caught a ridge lift and was high over the north end of Green Mountain, in my scope it was an adult RT which lost height, flapped and glided to the north. Non-migraine raptors: BE immature, at 10:51 a.m. a naked eye seen eagle over North Table Mountain flew SW along Clear Creek Canyon, it had a lot of white on the dorsal wings, either a very pale individual or one which was severely bleached; RT 1 kiting and hovering over Lookout Mountain, and me trying to make it into an RL, except it had an uniformly colored tail, an immature which landed on a tree.
Non-raptor Observations:
Townsend's Solitaire 2 both calling and singing, Dark-eyed Junco 1, Common Raven 2, American Crow 2.
Predictions:
Light North-based Winds becoming East by 10:00 a.m., later becoming NE.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aian...@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
This is an automated email report from hawkcount.org.
If you do not wish to receive these reports, please send email to unsub...@hawkcount.org to unsubscribe.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages