Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle ParkGolden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated so only in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch. 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.
| Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 04, 2024 |
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Northern Harrier | 7 | 7 | 19 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 1 | 48 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 10 | 156 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 138 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Total: | 9 | 21 | 568 |
| Observation start time: | 11:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 15:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 4 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | |
Visitors:A young woman asked me "Seen anything cool?" "Migrating hawks" I replied, with silence from her, 10 minutes later she said she didn't see any hawks as she usually sees them easily. I explained migrating raptors often fly quite high requiring binoculars to see them. She mentioned Cooper's Hawk and I told her that she knew more than 95% of hikers at this spot. She said she wasn't very good at identifying hawks. I suggested, and showed her the free Raptor ID app, the Merlin app, and suggested she come for DFO trips. She took down the information.
Weather:The forecast was for light NNE winds with 90% cloud cover dropping. At the watch, there was 4 inches of snow on the ground, wind was from the WNW>NNW, temperature 8-2°C, cloud cover 100%>85%>35%>55%, initial limited visibility due to snow flurries 28 km, and increasing the next hour to 39 km so that DIA could be seen gleaming in the sunlight, far to the east. By 12 PM sunshine could be seen over Boulder and gradually extended southward to Denver, with slivers of blue sky showing in the NE which gradually expanded and the clouds broke up. Looking at earth.nullschool.net there were 26 Km per hour winds aloft coming from the North, but further to the West of the watch, as well as North winds east of Denver at 42 km/h, with a lull in between, so some migrants could be seen.
Raptor Observations:NNE winds were new for this watch. I re-read my notes from having a long video chat with Bryan Guarente the meteorologist and birder, in 2023, where he said that he thought the best raptor flights could be on N or NNE winds, but they were not common in Denver in fall. This was a very strange migration today. The 1st migrant was only at 12:49 PM, an SS over Lookout Mountain. At 1 PM an older juvenile NH (with the coloration of an adult male but with a brown instead of a gray dorsal wings) came in quite low from the West and flew SE. In the next 20 minutes I had 6 other NH, 5 of them in the West flying southward, then flying east over Lookout Mountain and then flying south or SSE, then no more. At 2:42 PM I saw a flock of 15 crows to the SW, and using my spotting scope to count their number, saw a much large birdâ€" a GE which migrated!
Non-raptor Observations:Oregon Junco 1, Common Raven 1, American Crow 28.
Predictions:Strong SW winds at 13 mph with gusts to 22 mph, windchill 40°F at 10:30 AM with a windchill high of 44°F. I'll give it a try to see if SW winds push any migrants from further west toward the watch.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at
hawkcount.org: [
Site Profile] [
Day Summary] [
Month Summary]
Directions to site:From I-70 from Northeast Denver, take Route 58, then a left turn going south on
Route 6, the 1st exit is for Lookout Mountain Road, turn right and follow the
clothes to find Windy Saddle Park parking lot on the right.
From I-70 from points west of Denver, take the Lookout Mountain Road and follow
it to the Windy Saddle Park parking lot, a longer route.
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