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: Feb 03, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| American Kestrel | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipiter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Observation start time: | 10:15:00 |
| Observation end time: | 11:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 1.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
Visitors:
6 walkers and 1 trail runner.
Weather:
Continuing my February observations on South-based winds from 2023 at the Dinosaur Ridge Hawk Watch which is only 8 km SE, and last night's forecast suggested favorable winds, so I decided to come up, neglecting to check the forecast this morning, for when I got to the parking lot there were strong winds from the WNW. The forecast had changed overnight. Since the temperature is already 76°F I decided to observe for at least an hour. Level 6 wins with gusts to Level 7 from the WNW, excellent cloud cover especially to the South,
Raptor Observations:
At 10:45 a.m. MST I happen to look behind me (hawk watcher's instinct?) and saw an adult GE fairly low kiting against the wind, using the wind to progressively soar far to the SW. GE do nest on North and South Table Mountains (in view to the east and below the watch), as well as at the Tiers of Zion, a rock climbing area just north of the watch, I was told by Mary Ann Bonell a park ranger who visited in fall 2024. At 10:19 a.m. when I was putting away my binoculars, I saw what looked like a Common Raven diving down and up in a roller coaster-fashion. Looking at binoculars, when it opened its wings, it was a juvenile GE with white on the tail, dirty white on the ventral wings and no white dorsally. It too was kiting, going NE and I thought 'Here's my first migrant" but it went SW, then NW and I lost it against the mountains there when the Level 7 gusts jostled me. At 10:48 a.m. there was an adult RT kiting against the wind, which dropped on Lookout Mountain.
Non-raptor Observations:
American Crow 2, Black-billed Magpie 1.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Site Description
Mount Zion is a foothill on the eastern flank of the Front Range of the Rocky
Mountains. The peak is located in Windy Saddle Park along Lookout Mountain Rd.
in Jefferson County, Denver.
39.7437134,-105.2418975
From the top there are almost unlimited views to the North (image below,left)
where rare raptors are found, East (image right, top) showing North and South
Table Mountains where most of the raptors are found, and West (image right,
bottom; showing NW view) where very few raptors are found, to the South limited
by Lookout Mountain (image below, right, with multiple antenna/towers) the 2nd
commonest location to find raptors; and beyond it to the left is Green Mountain
â€" the 3rd common site to find migrants here.
From the parking lot of the Windy Saddle Park which is at 6862 ft/2092 m, there
are around 287 stone steps leading to the top which is at 7156 ft/2181m, for an
elevation change of 294 ft/90 m.
There are 2 restrooms available at the parking lot.
Alternative observation site, when Windy Saddle Park parking lot is closed for
any reason, or if it's too cold/windy/snowy/icy at the top of Mount Zion: along
Lookout Mountain Road 0.5 miles on the way back to Golden at a pullout at
39.7423486,-105.2390684 which allows the same field-of-view, but closer to all
the landmarks, and at 6754 feet/2058.6 m, is 770 m from the top of Mount Zion as
the crow flies.
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