Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (03 Aug 2026) 1 Raptors
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Aug 3, 2026, 7:54:23 PM (13 hours ago) Aug 3
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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 in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site, and the second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. We will help you to learn Raptor ID. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk
Visitors:
A Brit who was planning to hike the Colorado Trail 486 miles chatted with me awhile. He wanted to know if raptors migrate in flocks, and I told him about SW and BW and the numbers we get in New York, he was amazed, so I told him about Vera Cruz and how he could see the numbers a different hawk watches at Hawkcount.org. A four-year-old girl with the family saw my scope and said Here's a picture guy. Addressing me she asked Are you the picture guy? I replied I can be if you want me to be.
Weather:
Initially comfortable when it was cloudy with stratocumulus, then became hot when the sun came out, later cooler when cloudiness prevailed again. Winds were from the West initially as predicted on earth.nullschool.net, but in the 10:00 hour there was a 'tussle' between this wind and the ridge lift coming up from the East, the latter prevailing by the next hour. Smoke continued from wildfires in Utah, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest with reduced clear visibility to 6 km, downtown Denver barely visible through the haze - coarse 10 and fine <2.5 particulate matter and ground level ozone. I had brought an N 95 mask with me in case, fortunately smoke is mostly in the 500 ft above ground, and this watch is at 7156 ft above MSL and 1876 ft above Denver. Local raptors and nighthawks were disappearing into the haze over Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the South.
Raptor Observations:
The cloudy sky was encouraging as it gave me some hope of finding raptors, though the sole migrant I could find was an RT at 11:55 a.m. MST. They were probably flying much higher, since Denver is already a mile high with hotter sunshine, a thinner atmosphere and the Rocky Mountain foothills (where this watch is) granite heating up rapidly, resulting very strong thermal formation, often 10,000-15,000 feet above ground level (AGL). Non-migrant Raptors: RT 5 the first being seen at 10:50 a.m. MDT, TV 2.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Nighthawk 30 above and beyond Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the South, migrating to the WSW/W; Violet-green Swallow 4; White-breasted Nuthatch Rocky Mountain/Interior West subspecies 1; Common Raven 3; American Crow 3.
Predictions:
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Patchy smoke. Partly sunny, with a high near 76. East wind 6 to 8 mph.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aian...@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
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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 second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. We will help you to learn Raptor ID. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk
| Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 03, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Observation start time: | 08:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 12:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 3.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
A Brit who was planning to hike the Colorado Trail 486 miles chatted with me awhile. He wanted to know if raptors migrate in flocks, and I told him about SW and BW and the numbers we get in New York, he was amazed, so I told him about Vera Cruz and how he could see the numbers a different hawk watches at Hawkcount.org. A four-year-old girl with the family saw my scope and said Here's a picture guy. Addressing me she asked Are you the picture guy? I replied I can be if you want me to be.
Weather:
Initially comfortable when it was cloudy with stratocumulus, then became hot when the sun came out, later cooler when cloudiness prevailed again. Winds were from the West initially as predicted on earth.nullschool.net, but in the 10:00 hour there was a 'tussle' between this wind and the ridge lift coming up from the East, the latter prevailing by the next hour. Smoke continued from wildfires in Utah, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest with reduced clear visibility to 6 km, downtown Denver barely visible through the haze - coarse 10 and fine <2.5 particulate matter and ground level ozone. I had brought an N 95 mask with me in case, fortunately smoke is mostly in the 500 ft above ground, and this watch is at 7156 ft above MSL and 1876 ft above Denver. Local raptors and nighthawks were disappearing into the haze over Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the South.
Raptor Observations:
The cloudy sky was encouraging as it gave me some hope of finding raptors, though the sole migrant I could find was an RT at 11:55 a.m. MST. They were probably flying much higher, since Denver is already a mile high with hotter sunshine, a thinner atmosphere and the Rocky Mountain foothills (where this watch is) granite heating up rapidly, resulting very strong thermal formation, often 10,000-15,000 feet above ground level (AGL). Non-migrant Raptors: RT 5 the first being seen at 10:50 a.m. MDT, TV 2.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Nighthawk 30 above and beyond Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the South, migrating to the WSW/W; Violet-green Swallow 4; White-breasted Nuthatch Rocky Mountain/Interior West subspecies 1; Common Raven 3; American Crow 3.
Predictions:
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Patchy smoke. Partly sunny, with a high near 76. East wind 6 to 8 mph.
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.
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