Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 12, 2022 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 1 | 4 | 12 |
| Northern Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 1 | 9 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total: | 3 | 11 | 60 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 15:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 7 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Natalie Uschner-Arroyo |
Visitors:
Natalie Uschner-Arroyo a Tuesday-birder came up to the watch for the 1st time. She had previously been to a hawk watch in Houston, TX. She is a geologist and I was able to share the information that the KT boundary (which marks the extinction of the dinosaurs, and now called the KPg boundary) was defined/identified for the 1st time at South Table Mountain which we could see easily north of the watch. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous%E2%80%93Paleogene_boundary She was delightful company as well as having sharp eyes, she found the CH against the perfectly blue sky, which I could then find and ID.
Weather:
Today’s weather was similar to yesterday with strong NW winds north of Denver according to earth.nullschool.net which would again push the birds far east of the watch, but I thought I’d give it a try anyway in case migrants if any over the Front Range would be pushed closer to the watch. Weather.gov predicted NW winds in the morning changing to NNW eventually NE by 6 PM, but by noon MST the wind had changed and very strongly at that to the NE, though interestingly on the way down the trail there was persistent NW winds indicating that the NE winds had overshadowed the NW winds at the watch. Minimal cloud cover, temperature 14-18°C, humidity 16-25%, steady barometer, clear visibility 25 km dropping to 16 km.
Raptor Observations:
The 1st migrant was a male AK at 8:53 AM MST. The last one was found at 2:16 p.m. when I was looking at 2 RT to the south when I noticed there was a GE gliding ahead of them, which they were probably “escorting†out of their territory toward the South. Non-migrant raptors: At 9:24 AM I found a distant hawk south of Green Mountain which I lost trying to find it in my scope, but Natalie found 3 raptors just slightly to the north all of which turned out to be GE â€" after flying around a while, 2 flew east and one dropped to the South â€" non-migrants. At 9:35 AM I found 2 GE â€" an adult and a juvenile coming in from the West â€" they flew to the north. I was able to show Natalie how to ID GE in flight, as well as adult vs juvenile. RT at least 5.
Non-raptor Observations:
Townsend Solitaire 3, Blue Jay 1, Steller’s Jay 1, Woodhouse’s Scrub-Jay 2, Hairy Woodpecker 1. 3 hot-air balloons early morning to the NE. A hang glider which I was surprised to see in the very strong winds at 2 PM soaring quite steadily.
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]
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
and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons,
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey
Vultures. Northern Goshawk is uncommon 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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