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: Oct 13, 2026 |
| Species |
Day's Count |
Month Total |
Season Total |
| Black Vulture |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Turkey Vulture |
0 |
21 |
269 |
| Osprey |
0 |
0 |
26 |
| Bald Eagle |
0 |
2 |
7 |
| Northern Harrier |
0 |
7 |
25 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
0 |
10 |
29 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
0 |
58 |
238 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
0 |
7 |
109 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
0 |
103 |
578 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
0 |
5 |
194 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Golden Eagle |
0 |
6 |
20 |
| American Kestrel |
0 |
12 |
141 |
| Merlin |
0 |
1 |
5 |
| Peregrine Falcon |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Prairie Falcon |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Mississippi Kite |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine |
0 |
1 |
4 |
| Unknown Buteo |
0 |
1 |
8 |
| Unknown Falcon |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Eagle |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Raptor |
0 |
6 |
16 |
| Total: |
0 |
240 |
1673 |
| Observation start time: |
08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: |
08:45:00 |
| Total observation time: |
0.75 hours |
| Official Counter |
Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Liza Antony |
Weather:
On our way West toward the watch on I-70 there was a fine drizzle and we wondered whether to go back home, but the clouds to the West looked slightly brighter so we went on. The top of Mount Zion was cloud-wreathed, and Liza suggested stopping at our alternative site on Lookout Mountain Road, but that too was in cloud so we went further down where it was clear and dry to the parking area for the Tiers of Zion rock climbing area 39.7479,-105.2436 where we could see Golden below to the east which had some filtered sunlight as did Mount Galbraith to the North, so we thought that if we stayed the cloud could possibly lift, however after half an hour the clouds were actually dropping down the flank of Mount Galbraith and into Golden with a light drizzle, so we decided to go home.
Raptor Observations:
No hawks seen. As we were leaving, we were rewarded by a low, close adult GE molting an inner left primary and many secondaries.
Non-raptor Observations:Predictions:
A front is coming through Denver so the next two days are going to be rainy, consequently Friday and Saturday could be excellent days for migration of hawks.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@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
unsubscribe@hawkcount.org to unsubscribe.
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate.
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists
https://cobirds.org/membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to
cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/010101a13792ff9e-560f5565-23a4-4a73-b91d-7485ec189a43-000000%40us-west-2.amazonses.com.
