[cobirds] Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists (16 Oct 2022) Raptors

Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists
Colorado, USA

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 16, 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	0	4	12
Northern Goshawk	0	0	0
Red-shouldered Hawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	0	1
Red-tailed Hawk	0	2	16
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	0	7
Ferruginous Hawk	0	0	0
Golden Eagle	0	2	7
American Kestrel	0	2	10
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:	0	13	62

Observation start time:	08:00:00
Observation end time:	11:30:00
Total observation time:	3.5 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Dave Hill

Visitors:
Paul Welschinger, Sarah Steiner, Meredith Denton-Hedrick,, Kevin Smith, Christine Schlager, Julia Gwinn who came with Dave Hill leading a DFO field trip to the hawk watch. Except for the leader, none of them had been to the hawk watch before. Sarah found a local male AK perched on a wire as well as a distant RT on a post. Paul found another distant RT. I was able to show all these to them through my scope.

Weather:
Light winds from the NE, temperature 9-11°C, barometric pressure 29.92 mmHg, completely overcast sky with reduced clear visibility to 8 km. According to earth.nullschool there were strong winds from the NNE streaming down from Canada all day today, going west around the Denver Convergence Vorticity Zone (DCVZ) located around Denver which would push any raptors migrating south east of the Front Range far to the east of Denver and bypassing Dinosaur Ridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver_Convergence_Vorticity_Zone In fact my initial hypothesis is that this is the reason we don't have a very strong fall migration at the site compared to spring.

Raptor Observations:
Non-migrant raptors: Before the DFO group came up I saw a GE at 8:20 AM MST to the NE, (and after they left at 11 AM MST) at 11:25 AM I saw a GE to the West which kept soaring upward, at the same time another GE to the NW which flew North; then at 11:52 AM a GE was seen to the NW flying north. An SS which came up just south of the watch and flew North. RT 3 all perched presumably for the lack of thermals because of the completely overcast sky, AK male 1. All these were well seen by the DFO group.

Non-raptor Observations:
Mountain Chickadee 1, Townsend's Solitaire 2,

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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
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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