[cobirds] Bird Conservancy of the Rockies - Barr Lake Banding Station; some quick post season thoughts

Hi All,

What would have been the final day of banding (Oct 23) was cancelled due to serious winds.  This is a bit of an early summary on this very busy season.  (More info will be available after data has been entered and we've had a chance to really dig into the numbers.)

We ended the season with a total capture of 2,189 individual birds (2,175 banded this season and 14 returns from prior years).  That is a 12% increase over 2020, our highest previous year.  

There is one factor that needs to be taken into consideration - in 2021 we increased the banding season by about 10 days, moving to 9 weeks instead of 7; a better measure of the increase will come when we can compare birds per net hour (a number we don't have yet).  However, since the increase in days was at the end of the season when the number of birds caught is at its lowest, it will still be a very good season.  (Using an estimate of the net hours this year based on the 2021-2025 seasons, this season may drop below 2020, 2018 and 2012, but we'll see.)

We've been focused on the increase in Wilson's Warblers, both because it was huge (976, compared with the now 2nd highest in 2020 when we caught 654) and because it was the most of any species ever caught in one season.  But a quick look at other species that have a real impact our total number (17 species where we normally catch 20+) shows that all but 2 were equal to or above the average number caught in previous seasons.  Species caught at a rate well above the 20 year average included:

Red-breasted Nuthatch 34, average 4

Ruby-crowned Kinglet 52, average 32

Hermit Thrush 50, average 30

Gray Catbird 24, average 10

Townsend's Warbler 44, average 14

Common Yellowthroat 34, average 23

Green-tailed Towhee 22, average 11

Song Sparrow 75, average 30

Lincoln's Sparrow 57, average 28

Thanks to the amazing crew of volunteers, some of whom worked extra days as it became clear that we were going to be really busy!  And thanks to all who visited; we love discussing bird conservation and just enjoying these lovely birds with you!

Meredith

Meredith McBurney
Bander, Barr Lake Station

Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

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[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (28 Oct 2026) 18 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org. This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site, and the second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID if you are interested. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 28, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	22	270
Osprey	0	3	29
Bald Eagle	0	2	7
Northern Harrier	0	8	26
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	30	49
Cooper's Hawk	4	100	280
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	7	109
Red-tailed Hawk	9	183	658
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	5	194
Ferruginous Hawk	0	1	2
Golden Eagle	4	14	28
American Kestrel	0	15	144
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Prairie Falcon	0	0	2
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	0	2	9
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	9	19
Total:	18	404	1837

Observation start time:	09:00:00
Observation end time:	13:00:00
Total observation time:	4 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:	Liza Antony

Visitors:
A hiker expressed surprise that we were still counting, as he had been here before. He asked about thermals and I explained ridge lift that the hawks were using today. I showed him a GE flying next to one of the antenna on Lookout Mountain and he could see it without binoculars. I pointed my scope at the GE and an RT close by and he said that was the most thrilling part of his hike! I was able to show 2 other hikers a perched RT on a tree in the Kestrel Channel, then 2 RT which circled and rose very close to the watch, and showed them how to tell adult versus juvenile using the tail color.

Weather:
A slight haze at the bases of the buildings of downtown Denver, excellent cirrus clouds to the east to 40� above the horizon and altostratus over Lookout Mountain to the South. By 10:43 a.m. an SS which rose out of the Kestrel Channel we could see using a moderately strong thermal to rise quite high before moving south.

Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was a CH at 10:22 a.m. MDT. At 10:35 a.m. Liza said that there were 2 Ravens over Green Mountain and when I looked one of them looked like a buteo, and at the same time she said no they're buteos. Through my scope they were Golden Eagles, one having escorted the migrant, turned back North. Today was the day for Golden Eagles - 4 migrants at 10:35 a.m., 10:40 a.m., 10:44 a.m., and 10:53 a.m. and 3 locals, 6 adult, one too far to tell. More migrants used Lookout Mountain than over the Table Mountains and to the east. The 1st hour we had 7 migrants, 1 in the next hour so we scanned with binoculars much higher using the good cloud cover but could not find any high migrants, 7 more in the next hour and 3 in the last hour. Non-migrant hawks: RT 5 sightings.

Non-raptor Observations:
Paragliders started at 1:18 p.m. and consistent with the Soaring Forecast of the NWS of lift at 6 ft/sec and height of thermals of 5257 ft AGL by 12:45 p.m. - 3,500 ft above the watch- 10 flew very high until they were not visible with the naked eye. Monarch butterfly 1.

Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 62. Good cloud cover. Calm wind becoming east around 6 mph in the afternoon.

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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Thanks all! 

For the record, I was not aware of the split and was just curious about how it would be resolved in eBird. I'm happy that my ABA list is one higher!

Best regards,

Tom Behnfield

303-910-6858
behnfield@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 3:10 PM Nathan D Pieplow <Nathan.Pieplow@colorado.edu> wrote:

I can second what Andrew said. I've never recorded an Eastern Marsh Wren in Colorado. Marsh Wrens can sing a lot on migration, but unfortunately they're usually singing run-on plastic songs that are harder to ID. We'll need good recordings (probably long ones) to confirm an Eastern Marsh Wren in the state.

Nathan

Nathan Pieplow  

Teaching Professor & Student Affairs Coordinator  

Program for Writing and Rhetoric  

University of Colorado, Boulder

---

From: Tom Behnfield <behnfield@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, October 27, 2026 12:36 PM
To: Josh Bruening <87211jjb@gmail.com>
Cc: Peter Gent <gent@ucar.edu>; Nathan D Pieplow <Nathan.Pieplow@colorado.edu>; Colorado Birds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

 

[External email - use caution]

Thanks Josh

Tom Behnfield
303-9106858
behnfield@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 12:35 PM Josh Bruening <87211jjb@gmail.com> wrote:

Tom,

This should resolve itself unless during certain times of year Marsh Wren has traditionally been flagged as rare anyways. The default wren in this new split for Colorado will be Western Marsh Wren.  The new Western Marsh Wren will assume the existing filter limits for each filter region. There are no confirmed records of Eastern Marsh Wren in Colorado on eBird and if memory serves me correctly, there are no CBRC records either.  Maybe @Peter Gent  can confirm this.  In some recent communications with Andrew Spencer on our Colorado eBird review Slack channel he said:

 "Back when I was living in Colorado, I did spend a significant amount of effort trying to find an EMWR in the state, inlucing recording birds in the eastern tier of counties, especially during migration.  While I found a couple of birds that visually looked intriguing, every single one I recorded proved to be a WMWR. It does seem quite likely that EMWR is a very rare migrant on the eastern plains, identifying silent birds is complicated.  So getting recordings (if possible) of any potential EMWR would be vital!" (posting this with Andrew's permission).

Reviewers will be essentially requesting the same level of media/recordings for confirmation on eBird that we were looking for with the recent Warbling Vireo split.  @Nathan Pieplow -perhaps you could weigh in on your experience with these now two separate species?  Feel free to keep the questions coming!

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 11:09 AM behn...@gmail.com <behnfield@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Thanks Josh

Tom Behnfield
303-9106858
behnfield@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 12:35 PM Josh Bruening <87211jjb@gmail.com> wrote:

Tom,

This should resolve itself unless during certain times of year Marsh Wren has traditionally been flagged as rare anyways. The default wren in this new split for Colorado will be Western Marsh Wren.  The new Western Marsh Wren will assume the existing filter limits for each filter region. There are no confirmed records of Eastern Marsh Wren in Colorado on eBird and if memory serves me correctly, there are no CBRC records either.  Maybe @Peter Gent  can confirm this.  In some recent communications with Andrew Spencer on our Colorado eBird review Slack channel he said:

 "Back when I was living in Colorado, I did spend a significant amount of effort trying to find an EMWR in the state, inlucing recording birds in the eastern tier of counties, especially during migration.  While I found a couple of birds that visually looked intriguing, every single one I recorded proved to be a WMWR. It does seem quite likely that EMWR is a very rare migrant on the eastern plains, identifying silent birds is complicated.  So getting recordings (if possible) of any potential EMWR would be vital!" (posting this with Andrew's permission).

Reviewers will be essentially requesting the same level of media/recordings for confirmation on eBird that we were looking for with the recent Warbling Vireo split.  @Nathan Pieplow -perhaps you could weigh in on your experience with these now two separate species?  Feel free to keep the questions coming!

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 11:09 AM behn...@gmail.com <behnfield@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Tom,

This should resolve itself unless during certain times of year Marsh Wren has traditionally been flagged as rare anyways. The default wren in this new split for Colorado will be Western Marsh Wren.  The new Western Marsh Wren will assume the existing filter limits for each filter region. There are no confirmed records of Eastern Marsh Wren in Colorado on eBird and if memory serves me correctly, there are no CBRC records either.  Maybe @Peter Gent  can confirm this.  In some recent communications with Andrew Spencer on our Colorado eBird review Slack channel he said:

 "Back when I was living in Colorado, I did spend a significant amount of effort trying to find an EMWR in the state, inlucing recording birds in the eastern tier of counties, especially during migration.  While I found a couple of birds that visually looked intriguing, every single one I recorded proved to be a WMWR. It does seem quite likely that EMWR is a very rare migrant on the eastern plains, identifying silent birds is complicated.  So getting recordings (if possible) of any potential EMWR would be vital!" (posting this with Andrew's permission).

Reviewers will be essentially requesting the same level of media/recordings for confirmation on eBird that we were looking for with the recent Warbling Vireo split.  @Nathan Pieplow -perhaps you could weigh in on your experience with these now two separate species?  Feel free to keep the questions coming!

Bird is the word!

Josh Bruening

Fort Collins

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 11:09 AM behn...@gmail.com <behnfield@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Thanks Todd!

Tom Behnfield
303-9106858
behnfield@gmail.com

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026 at 11:23 AM Todd Deininger <goldeneagle90a@gmail.com> wrote:

Ebird asked to wait until they are finished updating before you make changes. They will post on the website when the are done

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

Latest on Flickr

Follow me on inaturalist at toddwd1

youtube.com/@DeiningerProductions

"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a  while, or the light won't come in.

-- Isaac Asimov

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026, 11:09 AM behn...@gmail.com <behnfield@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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Re: [cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Ebird asked to wait until they are finished updating before you make changes. They will post on the website when the are done

Todd Deininger
Longmont, CO

Latest on Flickr

Follow me on inaturalist at toddwd1

youtube.com/@DeiningerProductions

"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a  while, or the light won't come in.

-- Isaac Asimov

On Tue, Oct 27, 2026, 11:09 AM behn...@gmail.com <behnfield@gmail.com> wrote:

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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[cobirds] Marsh Wren vs Western Marsh Wren

Greetings all!

This morning I began getting Colorado Needs Alerts for Western Marsh Wren. Will this resolve itself or is there some action I need to take?

Good birding!

Tom Behnfield

Lakewood/Jefferson County

behnfield@gmail.com

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[cobirds] Re: anyone want to go to Colorado springs tomorrow?

My godson, Topi Martinez, wants to go to Colorado Springs tomorrow, Tuesday, to look for a reported sharp tailed sandpiper.  I can’t go.  Please reply only to me if someone is going and he could go with you. Thank you. 

Elena Holly Klaver
United States Court Certified Interpreter
Conference Interpreter English < > Spanish
303.475.5189
Member: 
Colorado Interpreters & Translators Association (CITA)

American Translators Association (ATA)

National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT)


I acknowledge that I live in the territory of Hinóno'éí  (Arapaho) and Cheyenne nations, according to the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie, and that Colorado's Front Range is home to the Ute and many other Native peoples.  Reconozco que vivo en el territorio de las naciones Hinóno’éí (Arapaho) y Cheyenne, según el Tratado de Fort Laramie en 1851, y que el estado de Colorado al este de las Montañas Rocosas es territorio de los Utes y muchos otros pueblos indígenas. 

[cobirds] Mountain irruption in my north-central Boulder yard

The irruption of mountain species to the plains has shown up in my yard in north-central Boulder. Over the past few weeks, I’ve had a trickle of species that are unusual for my yard: Steller’s Jays, Pygmy Nuthatches, and Cassin’s Finches.

But then today!!!

This single afternoon I’ve had in the yard:

• FOUR Steller’s Jays at once (only every seen 19 times in my 30 years in the house, and never more than one per day)
• NINE Cassin’s Finches at once, growing in numbers as the day progresses from two seen this morning to the mob on the feeder this afternoon (only seen 10 times in the yard outside of the spring of 2023 when they were all over Boulder)
• TWO Pygmy Nuthatches (only seen five times in the yard before this year)
• ONE Mountain Chickadee (only see in 10 of the 30 years since I’ve lived in the house)

At one point, all four of these species were in the yard at the same time.

And this morning, on my usual morning dog walk around the Boulder Community Gardens a block from my house, there was a vocalizing Evening Grosbeak — only the second time I’ve seen an EVGR at the Gardens ever. (Too bad it wasn’t in my yard: I’ve only ever had one EVGR in the years, in 2001.)

For context, my backyard is an ordinary urbanish backyard about 3/4 of a mile east of Mt Sanitas. Even though these mountain species are relatively common on Mt Sanitas, they rarely venture that short distance down from the pine forest to my yard, despite the attraction of my feeders and bird bath.

So what’s going on in the mountains that is driving these species east?  Little water, few insects, poor cone crops?

Richard Trinkner

Boulder

[cobirds] Bobcat Ridge hawk sighting

To respond to Ron Bolton’s query about a hawk he recently saw at Bobcat Ridge National Area,

I’ve done monthly bird surveys at Bobcat Ridge for many years, and cannot remember seeing a Broad-winged Hawk there.  We saw both Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks there in September.  We see both accipiters not frequently, but regularly, at Bobcat Ridge.

 

The City of Fort Collins (Fort Collins Open Lands owns Bobcat Ridge Natural Area) is now putting together a spreadsheet for the data we have collected over the years that should be made available to the public – then a better answer might be available to Ron’s question about Broad-winged Hawks at Bobcat Ridge.  A look at eBird records for the site might also be informative.

 

Denise Bretting

Loveland

[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (25 Oct 2026) 4 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org. This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site, and the second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID if you are interested. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	22	270
Osprey	0	3	29
Bald Eagle	0	2	7
Northern Harrier	0	7	25
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	26	45
Cooper's Hawk	1	94	274
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	7	109
Red-tailed Hawk	1	174	649
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	5	194
Ferruginous Hawk	0	1	2
Golden Eagle	0	10	24
American Kestrel	0	15	144
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Prairie Falcon	0	0	2
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	1	2	9
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	9	19
Total:	4	380	1813

Observation start time:	08:45:00
Observation end time:	13:15:00
Total observation time:	4.5 hours
Official Counter	Zak Hepler
Observers:

Visitors:
Surprisingly, quite a few visitors today. Two different couples asked me what I was looking for. I was asked if I worked for "CPW" and I said "no, I am a volunteer and this data goes to Hawk Migration Association of North America". One couple told me about nesting Peregrines that they see every year near their home. They were telling me about how poor of flyers the young falcons are when they see them. The other couple asked about Golden Eagles. A few different groups spent a lot of time talking on their cellphones while on speaker. One guy picked up trash and took it down the mountain with him.

Weather:
Very foggy morning at Mount Zion. Visibility was poor and the Towers on Lookout Mountain only became visible after 1130 AM MDT. The fog was pushed by an Eastern wind that persisted throughout the day. Once the fog lifted, there remained much haze over the larger Denver area. In fact, the southwest area of Kestrel Channel remained in haze for the entirety of my watch. While there was no real wind at the watch, I could see a lot of movement in the clouds above signifying a quick moving air current high overhead. National Weather Service forecasted ZERO thermal lift for today. This, along with hardly any wind, made all raptors visible to the naked, unaided, eye.

Raptor Observations:
Not a lot of raptor activity today. I was hoping the moving cold front would create more activity. The end of the season is in sight. The 6 hawk watches operated by Hawk Watch International end their season Nov. 5th. The season end date for the current Mount Zion Fall 2026 season is still TBD. The first migrant was a CH @ 11:53 AM MDT. The next migrant was a Sharpie @ 12:14 PM MDT and the last was a RT @ 12:58 PM MDT. Non-migrant raptors: 7 RT, 1 GE, 1 AK I had great views of a hunting adult male American Kestrel. The bird was found in the namesake Kestrel Channel.

Non-raptor Observations:
The usual subjects at the watch. The one passerine species that piqued the most interest was the large flock of Bushtits that worked their way around The Watch. I was able to record some audio. For the full list of birds see this eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405420107

Predictions:
A cold and crisp day can be expected at Mount Zion tomorrow. The fog shouldn't be as bad as it was today and the skies should be clearer. There is expected to be the same Eastern wind tomorrow.

---

Report submitted by Zak Hepler (zakhepler@gmail.com)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (25 Oct 2026) 4 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org. This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site, and the second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID if you are interested. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	22	270
Osprey	0	3	29
Bald Eagle	0	2	7
Northern Harrier	0	7	25
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	26	45
Cooper's Hawk	1	94	274
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	7	109
Red-tailed Hawk	1	174	649
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	5	194
Ferruginous Hawk	0	1	2
Golden Eagle	0	10	24
American Kestrel	0	15	144
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Prairie Falcon	0	0	2
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	1	2	9
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	9	19
Total:	4	380	1813

Observation start time:	08:45:00
Observation end time:	13:15:00
Total observation time:	4.5 hours
Official Counter	Zak Hepler
Observers:

Visitors:
Surprisingly, quite a few visitors today. Two different couples asked me what I was looking for. I was asked if I worked for "CPW" and I said "no, I am a volunteer and this data goes to Hawk Migration Association of North America". One couple told me about nesting Peregrines that they see every year near their home. They were telling me about how poor of flyers the young falcons are when they see them. The other couple asked about Golden Eagles. A few different groups spent a lot of time talking on their cellphones while on speaker. One guy picked up trash and took it down the mountain with him.

Weather:
Very foggy morning at Mount Zion. Visibility was poor and the Towers on Lookout Mountain only became visible after 1130 AM MDT. The fog was pushed by an Eastern wind that persisted throughout the day. Once the fog lifted, there remained much haze over the larger Denver area. In fact, the southwest area of Kestrel Channel remained in haze for the entirety of my watch. While there was no real wind at the watch, I could see a lot of movement in the clouds above signifying a quick moving air current high overhead. National Weather Service forecasted ZERO thermal lift for today. This, along with hardly any wind, made all raptors visible to the naked, unaided, eye.

Raptor Observations:
Not a lot of raptor activity today. I was hoping the moving cold front would create more activity. The end of the season is in sight. The 6 hawk watches operated by Hawk Watch International end their season Nov. 5th. The season end date for the current Mount Zion Fall 2026 season is still TBD. The first migrant was a CH @ 11:53 AM MDT. The next migrant was a Sharpie @ 12:14 PM MDT and the last was a RT @ 12:58 PM MDT. Non-migrant raptors: 7 RT, 1 GE, 1 AK I had great views of a hunting adult male American Kestrel. The bird was found in the namesake Kestrel Channel.

Non-raptor Observations:
The usual subjects at the watch. The one passerine species that piqued the most interest was the large flock of Bushtits that worked their way around The Watch. I was able to record some audio. For the full list of birds see this eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405420107

Predictions:
A cold and crisp day can be expected at Mount Zion tomorrow. The fog shouldn't be as bad as it was today and the skies should be clearer. There is expected to be the same Eastern wind tomorrow.

---

Report submitted by Zak Hepler (zakhepler@gmail.com)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (25 Oct 2026) 4 Raptors

Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA

To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org. This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch site, and the second hawk watch in Colorado. 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. EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID if you are interested. See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk

Daily Raptor Counts: Oct 25, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	22	270
Osprey	0	3	29
Bald Eagle	0	2	7
Northern Harrier	0	7	25
Sharp-shinned Hawk	1	26	45
Cooper's Hawk	1	94	274
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	7	109
Red-tailed Hawk	1	174	649
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	5	194
Ferruginous Hawk	0	1	2
Golden Eagle	0	10	24
American Kestrel	0	15	144
Merlin	0	2	6
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Prairie Falcon	0	0	2
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	1	4
Unknown Buteo	1	2	9
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	9	19
Total:	4	380	1813

Observation start time:	08:45:00
Observation end time:	13:15:00
Total observation time:	4.5 hours
Official Counter	Zak Hepler
Observers:

Visitors:
Surprisingly, quite a few visitors today. Two different couples asked me what I was looking for. I was asked if I worked for "CPW" and I said "no, I am a volunteer and this data goes to Hawk Migration Association of North America". One couple told me about nesting Peregrines that they see every year near their home. They were telling me about how poor of flyers the young falcons are when they see them. The other couple asked about Golden Eagles. A few different groups spent a lot of time talking on their cellphones while on speaker. One guy picked up trash and took it down the mountain with him.

Weather:
Very foggy morning at Mount Zion. Visibility was poor and the Towers on Lookout Mountain only became visible after 1130 AM MDT. The fog was pushed by an Eastern wind that persisted throughout the day. Once the fog lifted, there remained much haze over the larger Denver area. In fact, the southwest area of Kestrel Channel remained in haze for the entirety of my watch. While there was no real wind at the watch, I could see a lot of movement in the clouds above signifying a quick moving air current high overhead. National Weather Service forecasted ZERO thermal lift for today. This, along with hardly any wind, made all raptors visible to the naked, unaided, eye.

Raptor Observations:
Not a lot of raptor activity today. I was hoping the moving cold front would create more activity. The end of the season is in sight. The 6 hawk watches operated by Hawk Watch International end their season Nov. 5th. The season end date for the current Mount Zion Fall 2026 season is still TBD. The first migrant was a CH @ 11:53 AM MDT. The next migrant was a Sharpie @ 12:14 PM MDT and the last was a RT @ 12:58 PM MDT. Non-migrant raptors: 7 RT, 1 GE, 1 AK I had great views of a hunting adult male American Kestrel. The bird was found in the namesake Kestrel Channel.

Non-raptor Observations:
The usual subjects at the watch. The one passerine species that piqued the most interest was the large flock of Bushtits that worked their way around The Watch. I was able to record some audio. For the full list of birds see this eBird list: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405420107

Predictions:
A cold and crisp day can be expected at Mount Zion tomorrow. The fog shouldn't be as bad as it was today and the skies should be clearer. There is expected to be the same Eastern wind tomorrow.

---

Report submitted by Zak Hepler (zakhepler@gmail.com)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]

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[cobirds] Chatfield Banding Station: Final Report

We finished up our banding season at Chatfield last week! We had to cancel our very last day of banding due to weather, but we were grateful that was the only cancellation of the season. In total we banded 643 birds over the course of our 22 banding days, with 50% of those birds being either Wilson's (225) and Yellow-rumped Warblers (111). We also had 94 same-season recaps and 45 returns from previous seasons. Our oldest recapture was a Yellow Warbler originally banded in 2022. We had 43 different species visit the banding station! (See table below)

We learned so much this season about what fall migration looks like at Chatfield. It was so interesting to see how the migration timing of different bird species varied. The Wilson's Warblers came through over the course of a month and peaked in mid September, for example, while the Yellow-rumped Warblers blasted through over the course of one week at the end of September. We also saw that the proportion of adult to young birds stayed fairly steady throughout the season, with about 40% being adults and 60% having hatched this summer. (See graphs below)

Thank you to all of you who were able to come visit us at the station and thank you to the wonderful staff and volunteers from both Bird Conservancy of the Rockies and Denver Audubon for helping the season run so smoothly. We had more than 500 visitors to the station! 

New Birds Banded
Species	Total
American Goldfinch	3
American Redstart	1
American Robin	2
Black-capped Chickadee	17
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher	6
Brown Creeper	1
Brewer's Sparrow	3
Bushtit	11
Cassin's Vireo	1
Chipping Sparrow	4
Common Yellowthroat	3
Downy Woodpecker	2
Dusky Flycatcher	2
Eastern Phoebe	3
Dark-eyed Junco (Gray-headed)	1
Dark-eyed Junco (Pink-sided)	1
Gray Catbird	16
Green-tailed Towhee	3
Hammond's Flycatcher	1
House Finch	8
Lesser Goldfinch	4
Lincoln's Sparrow	12
MacGillivray's Warbler	13
Northern House Wren	14
Northern Flicker	1
Northern Parula	1
Northern Waterthrush	2
Orange-crowned Warbler	67
Ovenbird	1
Ruby-crowned Kinglet	7
Red-eyed Vireo	1
Red-naped Sapsucker	1
Song Sparrow	24
Spotted Towhee	22
Swainson's Thrush	1
Traill's Flycatcher	4
Warbling Vireo	3
White-breasted Nuthatch	1
White-crowned Sparrow (Gambel's)	21
White-crowned Sparrow (Mountain)	6
Western Flycatcher	1
Western Wood-pewee	1
Wilson's Warbler	225
Yellow-breasted Chat	4
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)	102
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle)	9
Yellow Warbler	6
Grand Total	643

Until next time, 

Audrey Hicks

Bander, Denver Audubon + Bird Conservancy of the Rockies

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