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: Nov 04, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 270 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 1 | 30 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 1 | 52 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 4 | 7 | 295 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 109 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 22 | 53 | 741 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 194 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Golden Eagle | 2 | 3 | 35 |
| American Kestrel | 2 | 6 | 151 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Total: | 30 | 72 | 1959 |
| Observation start time: | 09:15:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 4.75 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
A couple asked whether we had seen any wildlife. We explained what we were looking for - migrating hawks and eagles, they wanted to know whether we had seen any eagles, and I said a Golden Eagle. Very lovely, was the response. Another regular hiker said Great to see you guys here.
Weather:
Denver was quite hazy and it took until 1:00 p.m. to become clear though DIA was still mildly hazy. Heavily overcast sky with cirrus and cirrosttatus to the East, virga to the SE when we started. Once Denver started getting clearer the brown cloud started widening between North and ENE, later spreading to the SE.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was only by 9:52 a.m. and was a CH in the Kestrel Channel. At 11:33 a.m. a juvenile CH just above eye level in the Kestrel Channel turned and soared a scant 20 ft above our heads before going SSW. Exciting and beautiful. Migratory GE at 9:58 a.m. seen to the NW going South, and another at 11:10 a.m. next to the easternmost antenna on Lookout Mountain, both adult. We were entertained by non-migrant GE: 1. At 12:04 p.m. an adult GE was chased by an RT and it dropped somewhere on the south face of Lookout Mountain, at 12:12 it chased a hapless RT with strayed too close, and it then flew low to the north over Golden. At 12:19 p.m. we saw it over North Table Mountain and we could see it was molting a left 6th primary and some secondaries, and it flew North, at 12:28 p.m. we saw it very far to the North. 2. At 12:39 p.m. a different GE (with a different molt pattern with many secondaries shorter) to the North, flew NW - we were able to show it to 2 hikers. 3. At 12:53 p.m. a subadult GE with white at the base of the tail and no white in the wings was seen to the North flying around the stone quarry, it spiraled up in a thermal and flew North. 4. At 1:18 p.m. a first year GE with prominent white at the base of the tail, a carpal bar, no molt, and faint white at the bases of the primaries came from the south and flew North. 5. At 1:50 p.m. an adult GE with a bulging crop seen close to the Eastern end of Lookout Mountain began doing its territorial roller coaster type flight, I knew from experience to look for another raptor in the area, and sure enough it dove on and chased another adult GE, then flying North, 5 minutes later I saw the other one higher in the sky - neither had any evidence molting/ missing feathers. An AK at 1:07 p.m. paused during its migration over Lookout Mountain to dive bomb a perched RT on a high tension pole 4 times, then sat on a wire a short distance away for 2 minutes before continuing south. Other non-migrant hawks: RT 3. Migration started only after the clouds parted and sunshine hit the ground to produce any thermals. In the morning most of the migration was along the gap between Green Mountain and Lookout Mountain presumably because of the poor thermal production as a result of the wet ground from the rain yesterday and the heavily overcast sky, and lack of strong wind to produce ridge lift on Lookout Mountain - we can feel the same wind from the ESE. The Thermal Soaring Index was poor with lift at only 1.5 ft/sec and height of thermals at 3941 ft AGL by 1:45 p.m. - 2,100 ft above the watch, roughly only half a mile above the watch - hawks should be visible to us relatively easily. We had a good last hour with 7 migrants and we would have like to stay longer but we had an appointment at 3:00 p.m. so we left reluctantly. This is the second day after the strong cold front went through with an excellent count for this time of the year at this location, even better than the day before.
Non-raptor Observations:
Two paragliders at 9:19 a.m. had no lift whatsoever. 11 of them after 12:15 p.m. had excellent lift, some going so high as to be barely visible to the naked eye. One paraglider hiked past us, so I asked him the weight of his canopy, and he thought around 20 lb. They do have a span of up to 35 ft.
Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 57. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the afternoon. The winds aloft are predicted to be light from the South changing to the East.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
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