Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 12, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 14 | 14 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 32 | 106 | 106 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 4 | 8 | 8 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 4 | 4 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 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: | 39 | 140 | 140 |
| Observation start time: | 10:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 18:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Deborah Hebblewhite, Janet Peters, Liza Antony, Natalie Uschner-Arroyo, Tierney Christiansen |
Visitors:
18 visitors to the watch area. We had the A-team of observers helping me â€" Liza all day, Natalie in the morning and Janet in the afternoon â€" nor did they disappoint. Tierney Christiansen helped in the morning. Pat Egan from Albany, NY who does bird surveys for various companies and his friend Emily Quackenbush from Colorado for a few morning hours. Deborah Hebblewhite a DFO member helped in the afternoon, her 1st time up at the watch.
Weather:
The wind prediction from earth.nullschool.net was for mainly SW winds all day, so I thought we might have a reasonably good count. Driving to the watch, far away on I-70 all of the Front Range was in shade, and at the watch there was a heavy very wide stratus cloud covering the whole area. My comment was that this was a double-edged sword in that we could easier see distant birds against the backdrop of the cloud, but it may also result in a lack of thermals inhibiting any flight. By the 2nd hour the western edge of the massive cloud cover gradually moved eastward and by 12:45 PM the sun shone on us and the real flight of the day began, in spite of it clouding up again as the watch went on.
Raptor Observations:
Migrants â€" Bald Eagle adult at 1:50 PM. Adult Golden Eagle at 2:55 PM. 3 of the 4 Ferruginous Hawk seemed to be "altitudinally challenged" but more likely knew something we didn't, in that the 1st was seen initially south of the Double Hump, flew in front of Mount Morrison and I could follow it in my scope, and it stayed below the ridge all the way north. The 2nd was seen just over the treetops just south of the parking lot of Matthews-Winters Park, flew over I-70 and stayed low all the way North. The 3rd flew above the ridge, while the 4th one flew at moderate height past us and then dropped just skimming the Apex Homes flying north, and this one had very dark coverts but with a light breast and belly, and a dusky distal tail --making it a moderately marked light morph immature. Almost all the migrants were seen more to our West with the exception of 2 RT and 1 CH which were on the East. Interestingly even at 5 PM the migrants were very high as they were all day with most at the limit of binocular ID needing a scope. I put up a GHOW decoy (which was very effective in NY) on a 12 foot pole but did not attract any raptors. I've used it before with a shorter pole with the same lack of effect. I have no explanation why Colorado is different. Non-migrant raptors: adult GE at 10:40 AM which initially seemed to be a migrant, then flew West thanks to Liza watching for a very long time; adult GE at 4:36 PM. RT 9.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Raven 20, American Crow 5, Townsend's Solitaire 3, Black-billed Magpie 1, many (presumably) migrating American Robin in flight.
Predictions:
A chance of rain/snow in the morning, rain likely in the afternoon. NNE winds 5-13 mph with gusts to 21 mph with a 70% chance of precipitation.
Report submitted by Janet Peters (j.f.peters58@gmail.com)
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. American 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 10th,
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 hawk watch signs from the
southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch 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, and walk to
the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain:
259 feet)
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds
* All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate.
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/0101018e360a54d2-7c2cd819-5f82-4ba1-8801-ab8dd4715c2f-000000%40us-west-2.amazonses.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment