Golden, Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 16, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 14 | 234 | 275 |
| Osprey | 2 | 37 | 41 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 13 | 40 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 33 | 41 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 12 | 158 | 186 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 7 | 159 | 208 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 23 | 72 | 72 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 3 | 133 | 398 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 2 | 14 | 14 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 12 | 27 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 3 | 22 |
| American Kestrel | 9 | 403 | 505 |
| Merlin | 2 | 7 | 12 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 6 | 9 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 3 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Total: | 75 | 1294 | 1867 |
| Observation start time: | 07:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 9.25 hours |
| Official Counter | Emma Riley, Audrey Anderson |
| Observers: | Ajit Antony, Amanda Baker, Karrie Lagon , Patricia Galli, Ryan Gannon, Sage Church |
Visitors:
We had a busy morning up at the ridge today with many visitors looking for Broad-winged Hawks, as well as our second Denver Audubon Homeschool field trip. We love getting to share migration with you all, and really love to see young people get excited about birds. Thank you to today's volunteers for your help spotting migrants! We saw 38 people at the site today, the vast majority being in the morning.
Weather:
The morning started out with scattered clouds, warm temperatures, and winds from the SE. Winds began shifting in the late morning, moving from SE to NW and in between. By the late afternoon we saw stronger winds and precipitation almost 360 degrees around us, and felt drizzle in the last hour.
Raptor Observations:
Migration started slow today but picked up by the late morning. Birds were overhead and west of us, most closer than yesterday but generally higher than yesterday. We had up to 8 Broad-winged Hawks move across the W ridge at once, with another great day total of 23. Some close accipitrine were spotted this morning as well. By the afternoon there was an extremely dramatic halt to migration, with no more than 4 birds counted in an hour after 1100 MST. We did have a relative low Northern Harrier come by, as well as some American Kestrels. Local Turkey Vulture activity has increased over the last few days, with up to 6 non-migratory birds seen at once. They have been coming extremely close to our count site going both N and S. We have seen weird flight behavior the last few days and today figured out that we've been seeing the courtship display, sometimes also seen on migration according to Birds of the World, of the Cooper's Hawk! They have been flying with Harrier/owl-like wingbeats, moving quickly and seemingly sporadically around the sky. Local RT and AK were seen today utilizing the late day winds to kite while hunting.
Non-raptor Observations:
Passerine activity followed raptor activity today, slowing as the day went on. SPTO and WOSJ were seen nicely perched all day, giving us something nice to look at when raptors were down. We had two GBHE move WNW over us, a first for us in recent years at this site. Mallard 2, White-throated Swift 2, Broad-tailed Hummingbird 1, Double-crested Cormorant 3, Great Blue Heron 2, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay 9, American Crow 1, Common Raven 9, Tree Swallow 7, White-breasted Nuthatch 1, American Robin 1, Pine Siskin 1, Spotted Towhee 3, Western Meadowlark 2, Common Grackle 1
Predictions:
A cold front is moving through the area starting tomorrow through Friday night, carrying the potential to bring 6+ inches of snow. Temperatures will drop tomorrow, winds will pick up, and precipitation is predicted to start sometime in the afternoon. We are hoping for a nice push of migrants before this front moves through! Winds will vary from the SW to NW tomorrow.
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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