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 14, 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 | 7 | 7 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 5 | 10 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 16 | 40 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 31 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 52 | 123 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 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: | 3 | 152 | 507 |
| Observation start time: | 12:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 3 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
Tom Barron who had given me information about the Soaring Forecast etc. a few weeks ago. A woman from Denver with two adult children asked me whether I was getting good pictures, meaning my spotting scope. I explained what I was doing. She thought hawks roosted during the day. But not during migration, I told her. She then came up with the urban myth of Red-tails taking away little dogs, and I explained that their food is of the size of voles. Three young men, one of whom asked whether we had seen any animals. I explained that we were looking for migrating raptors. He wanted to know why they would migrate. I asked him that if where he lived was covered with 3-5 ft of snow would he stay there, and he understood that the birds have evolved to migrate south for the winter. On a side note I also explained to them that South Table Mountain was the first place in the world where the K-T boundary,now called the K-Pg boundary was initially identified in 1943, but it took Walter and Luis Alvarez until 1981 to prove that an asteroid hit the Earth ending the reign of the dinosaurs, using evidence like an iridium spike - an element not seen in large amounts on earth, as well as the presence of shocked quartz indicative of high pressures, and that the Chixulub Crater was found north of the Yucatan Peninsula. https://tinyurl.com/mrxkhyhe Sounds like they had never heard of this, and seemed fascinated.
Weather:
The local forecast was for NNW (west winds unfavorable at this site) until 1:00 p.m. MDT when it it would change to NNE. At the watch the winds were light from the ENE, some haze from wildfires, to reduce clear visibility to 19 km, humidity low at 17%. The Soaring Forecast predicted that the trigger Temperature would be achieved at 12:45 PM MDT, and when we got there, there were puffy cumulus clouds which usually top thermals, to the east, developing and disappearing.
Raptor Observations:
I found it interesting that both yesterday and today in the afternoon we had similar winds and cliffs cover, and yesterday we had quite a good migration and today was almost non-existent . I wondered whether the initial winds in the morning made a difference, in that yesterday had winds from the NNE which is usually favorable for flight at this site, while today the winds started with NNW which is potentially unfavorable. This is going to be my working hypothesis for this site and will require more data to confirm or refute it . Non-migrant Raptors: adult GE flying West, RT 3.
Non-raptor Observations:
Mountain Chickadee 2, Common Raven 3.
Predictions:
Similar winds to today, with a change from NNW to N>NE>E, so we will be there by 9:30 a.m. testing my hypothesis.
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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