Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 30, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 8 | 13 | 13 |
| Osprey | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 29 | 29 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 5 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 13 | 13 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 2 | 14 | 14 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 10 | 246 | 246 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| American Kestrel | 7 | 20 | 20 |
| Merlin | 0 | 4 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 34 | 378 | 378 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Dustin Kohler |
| Observers: | Jerry Martin, Meredith Nash-Martin, Paul Michalec, Sammy Korengut , Zach Haag |
Visitors:
We had 43 visitors to the ridge today. We have had a lot of visitors the last couple days wearing Chicago cubs (baseball) gear. Which I thought was an interesting observation since they were not playing the Rockies, and as a St. Louis Cardinal fan we had some fun banter.
Weather:
Today was a warm mostly sunny day with strong winds that changed from a Southeast to a Northeast throughout the day. There was a bad Haze over the entire area especially to the south of us.
Raptor Observations:
Most of our migrants were very low today. Even our far away migrants were close to the horizon. We had our first loose kettle of 3 turkey vultures, and a coopers hawk that was momentarily thwarted by the wind before moving north. We had an immature bald eagle do what I call the wave (or saw) technique while migrating that I have mostly seen in Red-tailed hawks. Going into a head-wind the raptor tilts its wings up to gain height before diving down and forward then repeat. This gains distance without having to flap, and usually only lasts for a few minutes. The unknown accipter was about a mile and a half away (under cabrini shrine) and was under eye level the entire time. This bird flapped a lot (uncountable), but the flaps looked stronger. This bird was most likely a Cooper's Hawk, but I couldn't be sure it wasn't a Sharpshin as the far away, brown bird had a green/brown grass background where it was disappearing for a few feet before reappearing. We had an evening surge of kestrels where we had 6 migrating kestrels after 3 MST (4 MDT). Today we had a local Turkey Vulture, Merlin, year 4 Bald Eagle, and an accipiter probably a Coopers flying south to the east of us under a migrant red-tail (So I looked away before an ID was made).
Non-raptor Observations:
Today we saw my first ever white-throated swift!! This bird was by itself and flew north as a non-raptor migrant. We also had mule deer on green mountain again, and saw a person in a parachute from pretty far away.
Predictions:
Tomorrow looks to be a warm and overcast day with a strong southwest/ tail-wind. Should be a great Easter, and I look forward to seeing those who will join me on the ridge and maybe their families.
Report submitted by Official Counter (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 10:00 AM to 6:00 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)
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