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: Aug 30, 2026 |
| Species |
Day's Count |
Month Total |
Season Total |
| Black Vulture |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Turkey Vulture |
11 |
97 |
97 |
| Osprey |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Bald Eagle |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Northern Harrier |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
0 |
3 |
3 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
0 |
12 |
12 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
28 |
143 |
143 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
5 |
15 |
15 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Golden Eagle |
1 |
1 |
1 |
| American Kestrel |
0 |
20 |
20 |
| Merlin |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Peregrine Falcon |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Prairie Falcon |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Mississippi Kite |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Buteo |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Unknown Falcon |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Eagle |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Raptor |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Total: |
45 |
298 |
298 |
| Observation start time: |
08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: |
13:00:00 |
| Total observation time: |
5 hours |
| Official Counter |
Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Zak Hepler |
Visitors:
A few hikers were interested in what we were doing. One Trail Runner shouted Hi hawkman, I saw you yesterday, and he ran down the steps. Zak interacted with the hikers very well and answered their questions. A 5-year-old girl came up and said to her mother I wish we had a telescope to see things (she knew more than many adults, who think my scope is a camera), then said I wish we had binoculars. I could do no less than offer her my binoculars to look through.
Weather:
The first day we've had in August without any smoke haze over Denver, Denver International Airport to the east and Mount Blue Sky to the west both at 39 km/25 miles were easily visible. Extensive cloud cover though mostly altoccumulus and usual cumulus developing in the west and moving eastward by the afternoon. In the beginning of the 11:00 o'clock MST hour there were only a few drops of rain, and increasingly dark clouds to the West. At 1:55 p.m. DST I could see rain falling to the West and it kept getting closer, and when it began drizzling I decided to leave.There were 50 lightning strikes 20 mi WNW. It began raining on my way down. I was almost all the way down when the rain stopped and I briefly thought of going back up, but the dark clouds to the west and extensive rain falling from the clouds there changed my decision.
Raptor Observations:
Zak found the first migrant raptors which were 3 swainson's Hawk to the NE below us, directly over the windsock, just at the edge of North Table Mountain, somewhat difficult to see and follow. Right after that there were 2 more SW and 2 RT which migrated, while I was following the original 3 which were far ahead of the others - a big advantage having two of us observing. The resident RT on Lookout Mountain repeatedly dove on the SW. The adult GE had molting secondaries and primaries. Many of the migrant raptors were seeing initially fairly high above the horizon going directly to the SSE, while the rest to a scene around the antenna on the east of Lookout Mountain, either flying SSE or going across Lookout Mountain toward the SSW or SW. Non-migrant raptor sightings: CH 3 juvenile, two of them were seen over North Table Mountain and they dove on each other repeatedly, flew together making a squeaky whistling sound that never heard before, which I found on the Peterson website associated with Nathan Pieplow's Peterson's Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Western North America, which he designates 'juvenile squeal.' The other juvenile CH flew South along the Kestrel Channel, came back and dove straight at us landing in back of a bush only 12 ft from us and a little below us, and within 30 seconds flying off without anything in its talons. Evidently only 20-30% of their hunting forays are successful. RT 16. TV 7, 6 of which were roused by a migrating RT from one of the antenna they were perched on, by diving very close to them.
Non-raptor Observations:
CONI 1, WOSJ 1, MOCH 3, WTSW 2, NOFL 2, VGSW 13, WBNU 1, RBNU 1, WEBL 3, SPTO 1, WEKI 1, BTHU 3, AMCR 2, CORA 5, GTTO 1, SAPH 1. I have noticed that while most weather comes from west to east, storms that start in the west seem to go to the NW and the SW of the hawk watch, fortunately bypassing us.
Predictions:
A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Light and variable wind becoming east 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at
hawkcount.org: [
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Day Summary] [
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