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 24, 2026 |
| Species |
Day's Count |
Month Total |
Season Total |
| Black Vulture |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Turkey Vulture |
0 |
22 |
270 |
| Osprey |
0 |
3 |
29 |
| Bald Eagle |
0 |
2 |
7 |
| Northern Harrier |
0 |
7 |
25 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
1 |
25 |
44 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
0 |
93 |
273 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
0 |
7 |
109 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
5 |
173 |
648 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
0 |
5 |
194 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
1 |
2 |
| Golden Eagle |
0 |
10 |
24 |
| American Kestrel |
1 |
15 |
144 |
| Merlin |
0 |
2 |
6 |
| 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 |
9 |
19 |
| Total: |
7 |
376 |
1809 |
| Observation start time: |
08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: |
11:00:00 |
| Total observation time: |
3 hours |
| Official Counter |
Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
|
Visitors:
Two young men came up to the top and one of them took out a spotting scope on a tripod while the other had binoculars, both looking toward the west. I asked them what wildlife they were looking for, and they said Birds. What birds? Red Crossbill. Why that species? Because we've never seen one. They probably had seen our eBird reports showing that species commonly here. Do you know the call? Yes. If flock of 6 came by calling and I pointed them out. I showed them a TOSO and an RTHA through my scope. They were Aaron Farrar and Mason Richards students at the School of Mines, from Michigan and Texas respectively. We discussed local birds and species they hadn't seen. One of them was a member of DFO, I strongly recommend that both of them join and go on DFO trips.
Weather:
The temperature dropped markedly overnight. Overcast with stratrocumulus undulatus which had some thin areas where some filtered sunlight could come through, but by the last hour very low dark gray clouds, altotratus, moved in from the north. Denver was clear. The winds aloft after the cold front went through was from the NNE changing to NE. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS predicted zero lift and only 797 ft AGL for height of thermals but there was no trigger temperature time mentioned indicating it would not be reached. This to me would indicated that raptors which used thermals would not fly today. By 10:30 a.m. there was virga to the north, and by 10:30 a.m. there was virga to the SW, with low clouds covering the ridges to the north as well as for the 14ers to the West. In the last hour haziness developed over Denver caused by a controlled burn at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was an AK only by 10:23 a.m. MDT. An SS dove on an RT twice, both on migration. Only 1 migrant RT flew to the east of the watch, the other migrants were all found over Lookout Mountain to the South as is fairly common in October. Non-migrant raptors: I heard an odd call which was presumably from a CORA being chased down into Clear Creek Canyon by an adult GE missing a left 8th primary feather. RT 2.
Non-raptor Observations:
4 hang gliders took off at 10:15 a.m. and based on the soaring forecast I expected they would not have much lift, and they did not, struggling to get up to the level of the watch which is at 1771 ft AGL, but by 10:40 a.m. when 5 paragliders had taken off as well, they had moderate lift reaching I estimate 300 ft above the watch, none going really high. RECR 6, STJA 1, CAGO 5, HAWO 1, AMCR 4, CORA 2, BBMA 1, TOSO 1.
Predictions:
It could be a good day for my rent since the front went through today with NE winds tomorrow. A 20 percent chance of showers after 3pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 56. Calm wind becoming east northeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Winds aloft expected to be light from the NE.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
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