Golden, Colorado, USA
| Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 07, 2025 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 11 | 38 | 79 |
| Osprey | 2 | 6 | 10 |
| Bald Eagle | 2 | 5 | 32 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 3 | 11 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 3 | 10 | 38 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 6 | 17 | 66 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Red-shouldered Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 8 | 39 | 304 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 1 | 6 | 21 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 2 | 21 |
| American Kestrel | 13 | 28 | 130 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| 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 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total: | 46 | 156 | 729 |
| Observation start time: | 09:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 17:00:00 |
| Total observation time: | 8 hours |
| Official Counter | Emma Riley |
| Observers: | AJ Dotti, Ashli Farrar, Beth Davis, Clay Gibson, Marirosa Donisi, Michael Serruto |
Visitors:
We had a great amount of support at the ridge all day today with both scheduled volunteers and visitors, so thank you all for your continued support and company! We had many conversations today about how scattered our flight lines are, and how one set of eyes is not enough at this site. 44 people stopped by the site total today, with many stopping for more than 5-10 minutes to look for birds.
Weather:
The weather continues to warm up this week with blue skies and very light winds. Winds had an eastern component for most of the day, until they shifted a bit more W and came to an almost halt. Humidity was low and a haze was present for most of the day.
Raptor Observations:
Migration started off a bit slow but picked up over the first few hours of the day with birds seen E, overhead, and W of us. Birds flew a bit lower than expected with the strong sun, which may be attributed to a still warming ground after the cold front last week. We had movement for most of the day until the last two hours when bird activity came to a halt. Diversity has picked up with 8 species seen migrating today and 10 yesterday! Territory disputes have been high between local birds recently. A Golden Eagle was seen being mobbed by three Red-tailed Hawks at once almost directly overhead at the end of the day. The eagle didn't migrate, instead flying SW towards Mt. Morrison. We also had two incredibly low Golden Eagles fly south directly above us, which were some of the best looks at these birds of the season! An American Kestrel has been seen out by the Cabrini Shrine frequently harassing migrating raptors in the area as well.
Non-raptor Observations:
Non-raptor migration was slow today with 4 Mountain Bluebirds and 9 Black-billed Magpies moving North. Local passerine activity was pretty consistent all day with the recently returned Spotted Towhees singing away all day. Western Meadowlarks can be heard on the E side of the ridge for most of the day as well now. One unidentified gull was seen flying along the W ridge today, which is pretty uncommon for this site!
Predictions:
Temperatures will be lower than they were today with some cloud cover. Winds are predicted to come out of the West for most of the day.
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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