Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle ParkGolden, 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 19, 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 | 1 | 9 | 9 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 7 | 12 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 21 | 45 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 31 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 5 | 60 | 131 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 26 | 137 |
| 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: | 9 | 173 | 528 |
| Observation start time: | 09:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 5 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:6 visitors asked what we were looking at/for and we explained. We showed a distant flying adult Bald Eagle to 2 young women, and found it in my scope for them, and they were thrilled.
Weather:A cold front had gone through yesterday. The forecast was for light ESE winds, 80% cloud cover decreasing, and a windchill of 39°F. At the watch there was low cloud/fog on the East side of Lookout Mountain which for a while blotted out the entire mountain watch from our sight. The Soaring Forecast was for poor glider soaring, but had some lift up to 8000 feet. Denver could not be seen at all! The higher mountains to the west were snow covered, including Mount Blue Sky.
Raptor Observations:Non-migrant raptors: BE 1 adult and 1 subadult (4th year with a narrow line of black on the tip of the tail), RT 4, a juvenile NH flying north â€" this is the 3rd NH we've seen this season flying north.
Non-raptor Observations:A young man and a young woman came up to the top, and the she told us that he was going to propose to his girlfriend in 0.5 hours, and told us where she had set up her camera for a video. He had told his girlfriend that he was going to play golf with his father, and 2 friends of hers were going to bring her to the top of Mount Zion. He sat facing away from the trail. The 3 women came up, and he came up and said hi to his intended. He got down on one knee, proposed to her and gave her a ring. She was in tears. I got goosebumps (though I've been married 51 years to Liza). Based on the poor Soaring Forecast we were surprised to see a paraglider at 12:30 PM MDT â€" we expected no lift, and he disappeared from sight. An hour later 3 more took off, 2 of them could not not even rise to our altitude, but the sun had just come out of the clouds and one managed to fly moderately high over us. An hour later one more paraglider who buzzed around low over Golden. Common Raven 5, Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow 1, Oregon Junco 5, Gray-headed Junco 1, Townsend's Solitaire 3, Rock Wren 1, Western Bluebird 1, American Crow 1, Black-billed Magpie 1, Steller's Jay 1.
Predictions:SW winds with moderate cloud cover. we will be there by 10:30 AM
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@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.
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