Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle ParkGolden, 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: Nov 20, 2024 |
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 7 | 19 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 3 | 50 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 79 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 1 | 15 | 161 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 36 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 1 | 139 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Total: | 1 | 29 | 576 |
| Observation start time: | 11:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 14:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 3 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | |
Visitors:A young man from Mexico living in Denver for a year told me he saw a GE 15 minutes ago in the Windy Saddle, and showed me a picture – I expected an RT, but it was an immature GE. 2 young men wanted to look through my scope, so I showed them a low-power 20x view of Denver and they were totally blown away by the clarity which they saw the skyscrapers.
Weather:The forecast was for SW winds with gusts to 15 mph yesterday, and I planned to come to see what SW winds would provide in November, but this morning the SW winds were to change by 11 AM to West to WNW with 15 mph gusts by 2 PM. I was thinking of waiting another a few days for more consistent SW winds, but I looked at earth.nullschool.net and found that there was a large low-pressure area over Minnesota, which with its anti-clockwise rotation had a southward component on its west side, so I changed my mind and decided to come up hoping to have some late migrants may be blown south to the watch. However at the watch the winds were actually from the SE! There was a huge cirro-stratus cloud overhead, No extending North-South as well as East-West which would create a good backdrop for any migrants to be seen. The air was clear with visibility to 39 km, low humidity 11-15%, temperature 7°C and steady barometric pressure at the usual 29.92 inches of mercury.
Raptor Observations:The only migrant raptor was at 1:15 PM, and RT adult seen far to the SW and very high, and which kept rising and going southward. Non-migrant raptors: At 12:01 PM an adult BE on Lookout Mountain and another eagle below it which I assumed was another one, except it had a steep dihedral and was an adult GE. At 12:07 PM I saw 2 adult GE at the same location – 1 missing an 8th left primary and the other without molt. At the same time there were 3 RT which I lost while looking at the GE, so they were deemed non-migrants – a problem having only one observer. At 1:24 PM an adult GE at the same location low over the trees. I guess it isn't a wasted day seeing 2-4 GE, especially for someone like myself who lived in New York for 50 years, where there are far fewer GE in the eastern half of the country – only around 5000, compared to 20,000 in the western US.
Non-raptor Observations: Steller's Jay 1, Common Raven 1, American Crow 10, Black-billed Magpie 1.
Predictions:It isn't common to get north or NNE winds at this site without snow at the same time, as the cold fronts in Colorado drop straight down from the North. If there are such winds without snow I may be tempted to come up again in December, but it seems increasingly unlikely to see any more migrants at this watch. We will start counting again in February (for potential Prairie Falcon and Golden Eagle) with, hopefully, good numbers of northbound migrants in March (Ferruginous Hawk) and April (Swainson's Hawk), to complement the Dinosaur Ridge spring hawk watch, if we can.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
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