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 23, 2026 |
| Species |
Day's Count |
Month Total |
Season Total |
| Black Vulture |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Turkey Vulture |
2 |
104 |
209 |
| Osprey |
0 |
20 |
22 |
| Bald Eagle |
0 |
2 |
3 |
| Northern Harrier |
1 |
14 |
15 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
0 |
14 |
17 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
9 |
115 |
129 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
15 |
75 |
75 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
8 |
245 |
402 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
1 |
169 |
184 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
1 |
1 |
| Golden Eagle |
0 |
7 |
8 |
| American Kestrel |
3 |
93 |
113 |
| 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 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
| Unknown Falcon |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Eagle |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Unknown Raptor |
0 |
9 |
10 |
| Total: |
40 |
875 |
1198 |
| Observation start time: |
08:30:00 |
| Observation end time: |
12:15:00 |
| Total observation time: |
3.75 hours |
| Official Counter |
Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
|
Weather:
What's getting to be usual is the inversion layer with haze around Denver. Perfect hawk watching cloud cover 100% - altostratus to the East, altocumulus overhead to the South, and stratocumulus to the West, all of which provided the perfect backdrop to be able to see hawks as well as to scan with binoculars without any eye strain even high up. The overcast sky would also serve to reduce the height of thermals. The Soaring forecast of the NWS predicted lift of 6 ft per second and maximum height of thermals 7345 ft AGL by 1:30 p.m.. The winds aloft were from the South. Surprisingly there was snow on the 14ers visible from the watch, specifically Mount Blue Sky which had partly melted by the time I left. At that time there were very dark clouds to the West with rain falling.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was a very distant AK beyond Green Mountain found only through my scope while looking at a TV at 10:26 a.m. MDT. Migrants could be seen coming from every direction, from the NE, overhead, and from the NW, as well as finding them past the watch to the South and SE. By the 10-11 hour MDT Raptors were already at Level 4 (needing binoculars too see). BW initially found with the naked eye and thereafter only with binoculars in every hour, singly and up to 3 together. A single SW. An adult GE at the top of Lookout Mountain dove to the NE toward Golden doing its undulating roller coaster) sky dance which I presumed was territorially directed, and sure enough it was chasing as much smaller raptor CH size very low. At 11:30 a.m. I found a 'kettle of 7 BW' a distance to the South but they turned out to be an unkindness of ravens.
Non-raptor Observations:
STJA 1, BBMA 1, NOFL 1, TOSO 1, MOCH 1, WEBL 3, CORA 7, WTSW 3, VGSW 3.
Predictions:
A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 69. Light and variable wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 50%, though there's a chance of precipitation of 37% in the morning. If it rains all day tomorrow, Friday could be a good day for migrants, though the predicted winds aloft are from the SSW.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at
hawkcount.org: [
Site Profile] [
Day Summary] [
Month Summary]
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