Golden, Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 10, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 62 | 118 | 159 |
| Osprey | 6 | 13 | 17 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 8 | 35 |
| Northern Harrier | 6 | 13 | 21 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 14 | 42 | 70 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 23 | 55 | 104 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 20 | 65 | 330 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 4 | 12 | 27 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 3 | 22 |
| American Kestrel | 65 | 184 | 286 |
| Merlin | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Total: | 206 | 521 | 1094 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Emma Riley, Audrey Anderson |
| Observers: | Ajit Antony, Chip Dawes, Dave Erickson, Jeff Birek, Kathie Moses, Laura Hollenbaugh, Liza Antony, Marianne Erickson |
Visitors:
Thank you to all that helped us pick up very distant birds today! The ridge was busy throughout the day with both birds and people. We had a few new people on the ridge that had intentions of volunteering and spent a few hours with us, which was great. Roughly 40 people stopped by the ridge today, but that number is an estimate as most of us had our faces in binoculars for the whole day.
Weather:
Today was a sunny day with very little to no cloud cover present all day. A haze was present all day, getting more prevalent as the day went on. Winds were from the general E direction today staying at light speeds all day. The wind provided a nice relief from an otherwise hot day on the ridge! Thermals were strong right from the start of the day, with birds only lowering in the last 30 minutes or so of the day.
Raptor Observations:
We had an incredible day of migration today, with our third biggest day of migration since Denver Field Ornithologists hired a full-time counter (now two counters!) in 2022. A total of 206 migrating raptors were seen today. Most of these birds were very distant over the west ridge, making us really work for it. At times we had kettles of 10+ Turkey Vultures, as well as small mixed kettles of 2-4 species at a time. We were also happy to get some close and low birds throughout the day, including the Osprey that came by low as our first migrant of the day. All in all it was a fantastic day to experience the migration! As usual we had a whole number of non-migratory raptors today including at least one Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, American Kestrel, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Turkey Vulture, and Red-tailed Hawk. We did not witness as much aggression today towards migrants from local birds, possibly because most of the migrants were moving outside of our local birds' territories.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor observations were low for the day as we were all very busy trying to spot speck birds, but we were very excited to have FOY migratory American White Pelicans today! We had three separate groups of these birds fly by today. Another standout today was a Say's Phoebe that landed in a close snag for a minute. White-throated Swift 4, Feral Pigeon 1, American White Pelican 32, Northern Flicker 2, Say's Phoebe 1, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay 1, Common Raven 1, Spotted Towhee 1, Western Meadowlark 1
Predictions:
Tomorrow's conditions are predicted to be similar to today's, with blue skies and high temps. Thermals will be strong again, hopefully bringing another fantastic day of migration! Prepare for difficult but rewarding spotting conditions.
Report submitted by Official Counter of the day shown above (dinoridgehw@gmail.com)
Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: www.dinosaurridgehawkwatch.org
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
Site Description
Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the
best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may
see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare
dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson’s hawk, Ferruginous
hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden
and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons,
Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey
Vultures. American Goshawk is uncommon but also counted each season. Non-raptor
species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane,
White-throated Swift, American White Pelican, and Dusky Grouse. Birders of any
skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by
Hawk Counter(s) and volunteers from March through early May.
Directions to site:
From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left
into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow hawk watch signs from the
southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch site. The hike starts heading
east on an old two-track and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side
of the ridge. When the trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, and walk to
the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain:
259 feet)
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