Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: May 05, 2013 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 11 | 167 |
| Osprey | 0 | 2 | 24 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 1 | 30 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 2 | 8 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 11 | 108 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 4 | 13 | 123 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 4 | 6 | 39 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 9 | 240 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 1 | 7 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 1 | 11 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 8 | 159 |
| Merlin | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 3 | 4 | 49 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 34 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Total: | 14 | 74 | 1076 |
| Observation start time: | 07:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 6.5 hours |
| Official Counter | Joyce Commercon |
| Observers: | Cyndy Johnson |
Visitors:
Some visitors came for the view despite the overcast, chilly day and muddy-in-places trail. One inquired about the rarest bird seen lately; one wished us luck raptor-spotting. One man stayed for a while to learn more about HawkWatch and spoke of the Bald Eagles he had seen at Cherry Creek State Park.
Weather:
The day was overcast with 100% cloud cover, although the sun occasionally shone dimly through the thinner clouds. Temperatures ranged from about 7 C to 11 C. Eastern winds were fairly mild, shifting more to the NorthEast by mid-afternoon. Visibility was good.
Raptor Observations:
The observed migrants followed no predominant flight path along or to either side of the Ridge. There was no obvious trend in height-of-flight. Half of the migrants were accipiters; the overcast lighting seemed to strip them of their color making them difficult to age. Migrant highlights of the day included seeing a fairly ragged, immature Bald Eagle and a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk. A local Prairie Falcon glided South overtop of the HawkWatch site in the morning giving us a good view, and a local adult Turkey Vulture came close enough in the afternoon that its reddish head and its mottled dark brown back were easily visible to the naked eye.
Non-raptor Observations:
One Sandhill Crane circled at the top of Mount Morrison for a while before heading South. A flock of six Blue Jays flew North over the HawkWatch site heading North in the morning. Not long afterwards, thirty-plus Bushtits swept over the Ridge heading East. Also seen or heard were Western Meadowlark, Western Scrub-Jay, Spotted Towhee, Black-billed Magpie, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, White-throated Swift, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Say's Phoebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler (some were Audubon's), American Robin and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Approximately forty elk were seen near Bare Slope. There was plenty of noise during the day both from the shooting range and an event taking place at the Thunder Valley Motocross.
Report submitted by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (jeff.birek@rmbo.org)
Dinosaur Ridge information may be found at: http://www.rmbo.org/
Site Description
Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawkwatch in Colorado and is the
best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Dinosaur Ridge may
be the best place in the country to see the rare dark morph of the Broad-winged
Hawk (a few are seen each spring). Hawkwatchers who linger long enough may see
resident Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks and Prairie Falcons, in addition to
migrating Swainson's, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels and
Turkey Vultures. Peregrine Falcons and Ferruginous Hawks are uncommon; Northern
Goshawk is rare but regular. Non-raptor species include Rock Wren, and sometimes
Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, White-throated Swift, American White
Pelican or Dusky Grouse. Birders are always welcome.
The hawkwatch is generally staffed by volunteers from the Rocky Mountain Bird
Observatory from about 9 AM to around 4 PM from the first week of March to the
first week of May.
Directions to site:
From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left
into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow small signs from the south
side of lot to hawkwatch site. The hike starts heading east on an old two-track
and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side of the ridge. When the
trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, head through the gate, and walk to
the clearly-visible, flat area at the crest of the ridge.
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