[cobirds] Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists (27 Aug 2022) 2 Raptors

Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists
Colorado, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 27, 2022
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	0	0
Osprey	0	0	0
Bald Eagle	0	0	0
Northern Harrier	0	0	0
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	0	0
Cooper's Hawk	0	2	2
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	0
Red-tailed Hawk	2	8	8
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	1	1
Ferruginous Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	0	0
American Kestrel	0	2	2
Merlin	0	0	0
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	0
Prairie Falcon	0	0	0
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipiter	0	0	0
Unknown Buteo	0	0	0
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	0	0
Total:	2	13	13

Observation start time:	08:30:00
Observation end time:	12:00:00
Total observation time:	3.5 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Carol Cwiklinski, Liza Antony, Steve Small

Visitors:
A young woman presumably seeing the "Hawk Watch" sign asked if we could see hawks here, and when I said yes, and she asked "Right now?" I said no, that they fly through intermittently. I was thinking that the sign may be somewhat misleading to non-birders, suggesting that one could see hawks here all the time. This reminds me in 1979 when we were just starting to bird around our home in Croton New York and had bought a Peterson Field guide we found the Brinton Brook Bird Sanctuary so we eagerly went there. At that time we knew nothing about bird migration and went there, and were quite disappointed that here was a bird sanctuary with hardly any birds we could see!

Weather:
The forecast today was for NW winds changing in the afternoon to NE winds. NW winds are what we hope for at Eastern hawk watches in the middle of September for huge numbers of Broad-winged Hawks, though this is early in the season for a good migration I was curious what we would see. Thermal clouds started forming by 9 AM EST. These are capped by puffy rotating clouds resulting from adiabatic cooling of thermals. In the 10 AM EST hour large clouds were just north and just south of the watch helping us find hawks against the white background, as finding hawks against a perfectly blue sky if they are very high is next to impossible.

Raptor Observations:
I was very fortunate to have Carol Cwiklinski and Steve Small help with the count with their immense experience at this site. They found practically all the hawks. Their example gives me something to aspire to. The 1st raptor we thought was an RT at 8:42 AM EST coming in from the north which then dropped in a stoop, so not counted. The only countable migrants were 2 RT hi and directly overhead that Steve found while looking at an airplane. At 11:04 AM Steve saw a Golden Eagle flying north. At 11:20 AM he saw a TV flapping a lot which is unusual for that species, then finding an adult GE probably the reason for the TV's panic. I was able to pick the GE in my scope. At 10:14 AM Carol found an adult Swainson's Hawk (cleanly cut well-defined two-tone wings with "black in back" and well-defined dark bib) which went past the site â€" we were happy to count it, and then turned around and flew North, hunting â€" not counted. At 10:33 AM a very high SWHA and an RT flying north. In the last hour 2 TV looked like they were migrating but didn't. Turkey Vulture 2, Red-tailed Hawk 2 (adult, immature).

Non-raptor Observations:
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay 3, Common Raven 6 together, Barn Swallow 3, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and Black-capped Chickadee heard,

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Report submitted by DAVID HILL ()
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: http://www.dfobirds.org
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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Site Description
Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the
best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may
see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare
dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson’s hawk, Ferruginous
hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden
Eagles, Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie
Falcons, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey
Vultures. Northern Goshawk is rare but also counted each season. Non-raptor
species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane,
White-throated Swift, American White Pelican, and Dusky Grouse. Birders of any
skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by a
Hawk Counter and volunteers from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM from March 1st to May 14th,
weather permitting.

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
southwest end of lot to the 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.
(Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain: 259 feet)

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