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 in Google Maps.
| Daily Raptor Counts: Sep 20, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 1 | 7 | 7 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 2 | 18 | 18 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 2 | 33 | 33 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 1 | 22 | 22 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| American Kestrel | 8 | 47 | 47 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 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 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Total: | 18 | 150 | 150 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 13:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 5 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
Soon after we got to the parking lot, a group of 25 people alighted from vans and someone was talking to them. I thought it was a college field trip, as we had had a professor giving a number of student a lecture next to the hawk watch a few days ago. Later, at the hawk watch, a young woman with a yellow vest With Volunteer on the back, was picking up bottles and other garbage. We thanked her, and asked how often they cleaned up. She said twice a year, and they go to different locations. She was a probation officer and there were judges too cleaning up, in their group from the Jefferson County Courthouse. A few minutes later a youngish man similarly attired came up. I asked him if he was a probation officer or judge. He replied he was a judge, the youngest one there!
Weather:
There was a discrepancy between the predicted wind direction of SSE changing to SE to E, and the actual wind direction at the watch where it was light and came from the SW for the first 3 hours, then ESE,and East in the last hour; temperature between 18 and 27°C; low humidity 19-23%; steady barometric pressure. There was some early fog west of Denver extending to the east of Green Mountain.
Raptor Observations:
When we got there it was completely overcast with 85% cloud cover, which is usually bad news in that thermals do not form easily, so buteos which rely on thermals to migrate, would not, unless the clouds cleared. In the 1st hour we had no migrants, though we looked low over North and South Table Mountains and did not see a single migrant. The next hour had only 2. They have evolved not to waste any energy during migration in order to survive. The absence of thermals couldn't explain the absence of kestrels which use powered flight to migrate. By 10 AM MST, the overcast sky cover began big breaking up, the sun was peeking through clouds and by 11 AM we had bright sunshine, and the raptors began flying, initially very high to the SE found by the assiduous Liza, then all over including overhead – we had 14 in the next hour. As suddenly by the next hour there were almost no migrants. Non-migrant raptors: at 11:57 AM MST an adult GE which was molting some secondaries and a left inner primary, circled gaining height but ultimately flew west; CH streaming North; juvenile BE flew East; RT 7 sightings.
Non-raptor Observations:
Rock Wren 1, Mountain Chickadee 1, Hairy Woodpecker 1, White-throated Swift 3, American Crow 1, Common Raven 2, Spotted Towhee 2, Northern Flicker 1, Black-billed Magpie 1.
Predictions:
Mostly sunny, with a high of 65°F. NNW wind changing to NE at 10-11 mph with gusts 16-18 mph, and a 50% chance of rain after 3 PM.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
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