Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org. 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 if you are interested. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 24, 2026 |
| Species |
Day's Count |
Month Total |
Season Total |
| Black Vulture |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Turkey Vulture |
2 |
106 |
211 |
| Osprey |
0 |
20 |
22 |
| Bald Eagle |
1 |
3 |
4 |
| Northern Harrier |
1 |
15 |
16 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
1 |
15 |
18 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
10 |
125 |
139 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
11 |
86 |
86 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
3 |
248 |
405 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
3 |
172 |
187 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Golden Eagle |
1 |
8 |
9 |
| American Kestrel |
4 |
97 |
117 |
| Merlin |
0 |
2 |
2 |
| Peregrine Falcon |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Prairie Falcon |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Mississippi Kite |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine |
0 |
3 |
3 |
| Unknown Buteo |
3 |
4 |
5 |
| Unknown Falcon |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Eagle |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Raptor |
0 |
9 |
10 |
| Total: |
40 |
915 |
1238 |
| Observation start time: |
08:15:00 |
| Observation end time: |
12:15:00 |
| Total observation time: |
4 hours |
| Official Counter |
Liza Antony |
| Observers: |
|
Visitors:
No visitors
Weather:
100 percent cloud cover at the start of the watch. An inversion layer was noted over downtown Denver. Clear visibility to Green Mountain, which is 6 km away. There was a prediction for showers however it did not materialize while I was counting raptors. At the start of the watch it was very still however in 45 minutes there was a light breeze from the north east which change to NNE followed by N the NE at the end of the watch.
Raptor Observations:
The first two raptors were seen at 8:48 AM MST and where Swanson�s Hawks. Most of the hawks were flying very high, and the clouds helped spot the birds, but I had difficulty finding it in the spotting scope and had to rely on the overall shape of the bird. Non-migrant raptors: 1 GE; 2 TV, 3 RT
Non-raptor Observations:
Songbird seen are noted in eBird checklist S395905437 The birds included WTSW,NOFL, PYNU, AMCR, RECR, STJA, Western Bluebird, RBNU, YRWA, TOSO, GHJU, CHSP, HOFL, BBMA, CORA
Predictions:
A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon.
Report submitted by Liza Antony (
liza.antony15@gmail.com)
More information at
hawkcount.org: [
Site Profile] [
Day Summary] [
Month Summary]
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