Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (20 Oct 2024) 7 Raptors
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Oct 20, 2024, 10:08:17 PM10/20/24
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Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated so only in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch. 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.
Visitors:
6 visitors wanted information about the hawk watch and Hawk migration. In the afternoon a Ranger came up, and from her name tag I found that she was Mary Ann Bonnell of whom I had heard of as her mother had started Tuesday Birders. I explained what I was doing, showed her Hawkcount.org and the huge number of hawks seen the day before in Veracruz, Mexico. She wanted to know how many species we had seen, and I said we had seen 16/17 potential species – the only one missing was Rough-legged Hawk which I hoped to see in November or December.
Weather:
The forecast was for light SE>S winds with areas of fog in the morning. However the fog with an inversion layer was over Denver and points East while the mountains were in sunshine with good cirrus clouds from east to south, winds from ESE>E, humidity 32-40%, temperature 16-17° C, cloud cover 65>30%, limited clear visibility initially 19 km with some haziness, increasing to 25 and then 39 km.
Raptor Observations:
Slow migration today. In the afternoon I was thinking that with a small number of migrants, this would be 1 of the rare days and we won't see a single GE, either local or migrant. Just then I scanned with binoculars to the NNE and found a distant large black raptor which turned out to be a migrant juvenile GE flying to the West over the mountains in a southerly direction. 11 minutes later I found an adult GE drop near the top of Lookout Mountain and 5 minutes later had an adult GE seemingly migrating over the mountains toward the SSW, but it was chased by raven and attacked repeatedly, turned around and flew NW followed by the raven.
Non-raptor Observations:
Sandhill Crane 52 and 110, American Crow 12 flying West, Common Raven 5, Steller's Jay 1, Black-billed Magpie chasing an AK along the Kestrel Channel! Surprisingly not a single paraglider though the Soaring Forecast from the NWS was for good lift.
Predictions:
WNW winds with a 50% chance of rain in the morning, gusts 25-31 mph, partly cloudy. I may get to the watch around 11 AM.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aian...@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Directions to site:
From I-70 from Northeast Denver, take Route 58, then a left turn going south on
Route 6, the 1st exit is for Lookout Mountain Road, turn right and follow the
clothes to find Windy Saddle Park parking lot on the right.
From I-70 from points west of Denver, take the Lookout Mountain Road and follow
it to the Windy Saddle Park parking lot, a longer route.
This is an automated email report from hawkcount.org.
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Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated so only in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch. 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.
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 20, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 5 | 26 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 23 | 47 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 31 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 63 | 134 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 6 | 8 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 27 | 138 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Total: | 7 | 180 | 535 |
| Observation start time: | 09:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 4.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
6 visitors wanted information about the hawk watch and Hawk migration. In the afternoon a Ranger came up, and from her name tag I found that she was Mary Ann Bonnell of whom I had heard of as her mother had started Tuesday Birders. I explained what I was doing, showed her Hawkcount.org and the huge number of hawks seen the day before in Veracruz, Mexico. She wanted to know how many species we had seen, and I said we had seen 16/17 potential species – the only one missing was Rough-legged Hawk which I hoped to see in November or December.
Weather:
The forecast was for light SE>S winds with areas of fog in the morning. However the fog with an inversion layer was over Denver and points East while the mountains were in sunshine with good cirrus clouds from east to south, winds from ESE>E, humidity 32-40%, temperature 16-17° C, cloud cover 65>30%, limited clear visibility initially 19 km with some haziness, increasing to 25 and then 39 km.
Raptor Observations:
Slow migration today. In the afternoon I was thinking that with a small number of migrants, this would be 1 of the rare days and we won't see a single GE, either local or migrant. Just then I scanned with binoculars to the NNE and found a distant large black raptor which turned out to be a migrant juvenile GE flying to the West over the mountains in a southerly direction. 11 minutes later I found an adult GE drop near the top of Lookout Mountain and 5 minutes later had an adult GE seemingly migrating over the mountains toward the SSW, but it was chased by raven and attacked repeatedly, turned around and flew NW followed by the raven.
Non-raptor Observations:
Sandhill Crane 52 and 110, American Crow 12 flying West, Common Raven 5, Steller's Jay 1, Black-billed Magpie chasing an AK along the Kestrel Channel! Surprisingly not a single paraglider though the Soaring Forecast from the NWS was for good lift.
Predictions:
WNW winds with a 50% chance of rain in the morning, gusts 25-31 mph, partly cloudy. I may get to the watch around 11 AM.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aian...@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Directions to site:
From I-70 from Northeast Denver, take Route 58, then a left turn going south on
Route 6, the 1st exit is for Lookout Mountain Road, turn right and follow the
clothes to find Windy Saddle Park parking lot on the right.
From I-70 from points west of Denver, take the Lookout Mountain Road and follow
it to the Windy Saddle Park parking lot, a longer route.
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.
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