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 which is along Lookout Mountain Rd. in Golden, enter either Windy Saddle Park or Mount Zion into Google Maps on your favorite navigation app, or enter the coordinates 39.7368,-105.2454. From the parking lot ascend the stone steps to the watch site.
| Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 15, 2024 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 5 | 26 |
| Osprey | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 1 | 8 | 8 |
| Northern Harrier | 2 | 7 | 12 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 18 | 42 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 31 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 1 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 55 | 126 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 2 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Golden Eagle | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 26 | 137 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Total: | 12 | 164 | 519 |
| Observation start time: | 08:45:00 |
| Observation end time: | 16:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 6.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
A trail runner ran up and down the 288 steps six times! He counted by dropping a stone on top near us, else he said he couldn't remember. A young woman asked what we were looking at. Two young men asked what we were looking at, so we explained raptor migration and why. They had ssen a beautiful bird on a trimagesail and couldn't believe it was real. I asked whether it was blue. It was. I showed them a Steller's Jay on the Merlin app, which was the bird they had seen, and told them they could get it for free.
Weather:
The forecast today predicted light winds at 9:00 a.m. from the north, changing to NNE at 10:00 a.m. and NE at 11:00 a.m.. Of course when we got to the watch, as is usual here the winds came from the East (favorable for this site, perhaps by pushing easterly Birds closer to the watch). There were plenty of small puffy cumulus clouds which usually top thermals, but only in the West, dissipating before they came East. Finally by 12:30 p.m. some clouds showed up to the NE and SE, and by 1:00 p.m. there was moderately extensive white clouds high to the east.Yay!
Raptor Observations:
The Soaring Forecast today from the National Weather Service predicted poor soaring conditions for gliders,etc. but looking at the numerical forecast table, I could see that there was lift up to only 7,000 ft above sea level @ 54 ft per minute or 0.3 m per second. Today's temperature was not predicted to reach the trigger temperature for really good thermals of 73.4° f/26° C. Liza had a modification to my hypothesis in that she felt that when the raptors are ready to fly, if the winds are right, they would migrate. In addition a cold front dropped in the area, and we were curious to see what that would bring, mainly because in Eastern New York where we've counted before, the best flights in fall are the day after a cold front goes through, usually with NW winds and good cloud cover. The first migrant was an RT at 10:01 a.m. MST. The bird of the day was an FH adult at 11:39 a.m. which flew really high in a perfectly blue sky, seen only by Liza. Non-migrant Raptors: GE adult flying East 10:10 AM, adult GE attacked twice by an RT and it turned around and presented its talons to the RT at 10:17 a.m., flew to the ENE, adult GE flying NE being chased by an RT at 10:56 a.m., it then flew North where it met up with another adult GE to the NNW, adult GE flying NE at 127 p.m.; RT 1. I think except for 1 day here, we have seen a GE at least every session, either a migrant or local.
Non-raptor Observations:
Dusty Grouse 1 female in the parking lot! https://ebird.org/checklist/S199072275 for images. American Crow 2, Common Raven 1, Ring-billed Gull 15, Black-billed Magpie 1. In all we saw 11 paragliders for the day, the most we've seen here - especially this being a weekday! Two paragliders took off at 11:15 a.m. MDT. We felt that they may not have much lift from thermals based on our understanding the Soaring Forecast. One of them stayed below our elevation, the other seem to catch the ridge lift off Lookout Mountain and soared quite high. Three of then went to the north and gained even more height using ridge lift, but when they soared to the east they lost lift and dropped, actually because of an absence of strong enough thermals. The smart/experienced ones kept going west to gain height from ridge lift off Lookout Mountain. By 2:30 p.m. no more paragliders could be seen, except for 1 seen very low at 3:32 p.m.
Predictions:
The next two days have SW winds which are unfavorable for this site in our limited experience, and Friday looks like a possibility of rain, so the next time we count here will likely be Saturday- unless the weather changes. If the raptors don't migrate for the next 3 days, and it's a big if, we could have a good migration day on Saturday.
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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