Golden, 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, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 30, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 2 | 21 | 21 |
| Osprey | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Harrier | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 24 | 24 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 3 | 48 | 48 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 14 | 14 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 71 | 71 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 34 | 34 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| American Kestrel | 8 | 111 | 111 |
| Merlin | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| Total: | 25 | 355 | 355 |
| Observation start time: | 11:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 5 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
A young man was amazed when we told him of the number of species we could potentially see here (17), and what we had seen already including Golden Eagle (local). A woman was asking whether we were looking at the Golden Eagle â€" it was an RT.
Weather:
Level 3 winds (12-19 km/h) from the NE, temperature 25-19°C, humidity 19-21%, barometric pressure slightly rising, Minimalcloud cover mainly to the West, visibility only 4 km with Denver downtown vaguely seen as a ghostly presence due to haziness when we started caused by large wildfires in Oregon Montana and Idaho with slight improvement to 12 km by the end of observation.
Raptor Observations:
We could not come this morning as I had a diagnostic medical procedure, curious to see what the basal winds at 10 mph with strong NE gusts to 20 mph would bring us in the way of migrantsâ€" we surmised that only larger raptors would fly. We figured that the strong winds would rip apart any thermals which formed, leaving raptors to use ridge lift. we stayed until 5 PM MDT to check for any evening migrants. The 1st migrant raptor was a NH adult female at 11:17 AM MST. Bird of the day: 3 merlins flying together seen initially to the NNW where we don't usually see any migrants, flying really really fast slightly west of us and quite high â€" fortunately I saw a banded black-and-white tail which distinguished it from kestrels. We saw both a Peregrine and a Prairie Falcon as migrants. Non-migrant raptors: adult GE missing a left 8th primary and inner secondaries flew North, AK 1 hovering below us to the south, CH 1 repeatedly diving on an RT, RT 6, TV 1.
Non-raptor Observations:
Sandhill Cranes heard in the afternoon, Mountain Chickadee 1, Steller's Jay 1, Rock Wren 1, Black-billed Magpie 1, Common Raven 1, American Crow â€"a murder of 18 followed by 27 followed by 39 in 10 minutes at 4:30 PM.
Predictions:
Light winds from the NE. We will be there by 9:30 AM.
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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