[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (24 Sep 2024) 35 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
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 24, 2024
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	3	18	18
Osprey	1	3	3
Bald Eagle	0	0	0
Northern Harrier	0	2	2
Sharp-shinned Hawk	4	20	20
Cooper's Hawk	5	41	41
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	14	14
Red-tailed Hawk	9	64	64
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	3	34	34
Ferruginous Hawk	2	3	3
Golden Eagle	0	2	2
American Kestrel	7	95	95
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	3	3
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	1	8	8
Total:	35	308	308

Observation start time:	08:30:00
Observation end time:	13:30:00
Total observation time:	5 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Janet Peters, Liza Antony

Visitors:
Janet Peters helped us find and identify raptors, and gave us the latest news on the Dinosaur Ridge Hawk Watch for spring 2025.

Weather:
Unlike yesterday there was excellent cloud cover in the eastern sky from north to south, all the way from the eastern horizon to the zenith and beyond, which made for finding raptors easier. The prediction was for light winds, but we had stronger winds at Level 3 (12-19 km/h or 8-12 mph) from the alternate observing siteâ€" a pullout on Lookout Mountain Road toward Golden, as the Windy Saddle Park parking lot was being repaired.

Raptor Observations:
We had our first Ferruginous Hawk of the fall season, and Janet found one more. The first 2 raptors were found unbelievably high, an SS at 8:55 AM MST and another one 8 minutes later â€" indicating very high thermals already because of Denver’s intense sunlight. The initial flight seemed to be over the western end of Lookout Mountain, perhaps a ridge lift effect because of the strong East winds rising up the mountains and creating a standing wave over and beyond the ridges. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ridge_lift In the 11-12 MST are we lost most of the cloud cover to the east, and with it the migrants, though we were scanning systematically and assiduously high in the perfectly blue sky with binoculars, in the next hour as well. This was the “noon lull†where fewer birds were seen, which initially was taken by hawk watchers to be because of raptors “stopping for lunch,†but it was shown in the 1970s by Gauthreau and Kerlinger using a truck-mounted portable radar and comparing it with what was seen by hawk watches at the site, that raptors would be seen by radar flying much higher than could even be seen with binoculars. Waiting for the noon lull to be over is fine at other locations, where the raptors would fly lower by 3 PM, but Denver at Dinosaur Ridge in spring I have noticed that even at 4 and 5 PM migrants would still be really high-flying as thermal formation would not have diminished as elsewhere. Non-migrant raptors: RT 3, AK 1 over Lookout Mountain which escorted a migrant out of its territory; CH 1; BE adult 2; GE 1 adult missing secondaries that we have seen before. So far, it looks like this hawk watch site seems to have mainly morning flights.

Non-raptor Observations:
Mountain Bluebird 1, Rock Wren 1, Steller’s Jay 1, White-throated Swift 1, Common Raven 7, Black-billed Magpie 3, Northern Flicker 1.

Predictions:
The next day we will be counting will be on Friday September 27 from the top of Mount Zion, when the winds should be NW>N>ENE. NW and North will be new wind directions for us to experience at this site, and I will be curious to see what raptors it brings.

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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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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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