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: Sep 18, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 4 | 88 | 193 |
| Osprey | 0 | 18 | 20 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Northern Harrier | 0 | 4 | 5 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 0 | 2 | 5 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 5 | 57 | 71 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 10 | 28 | 28 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 13 | 186 | 343 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 0 | 115 | 130 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Golden Eagle | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 63 | 83 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Total: | 35 | 569 | 892 |
| Observation start time: | 08:00:00 |
| Observation end time: | 13:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 5.5 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Visitors:
Liza talked to 2 walkers about raptor migration, and about Hawkcount which she put on her phone. A hiker asked us if we had seen anything good. Another hiker thought it was Very cool what we were doing. While scanning with binoculars I heard a young voice saying Excuse me, what are you looking at? It was a 7-year-old first grader Porter Johnson with his mother. I explained that we were counting hawks and eagles which migrated south for the winter, and asked him why he thought they migrated. The cold, he said. I explained that they had feathers to keep them warm, and what other need did they have? Food. Correct, what happens when there are 2-3 feet of snow on the ground, how will they feed? They're not stupid, they won't stay there and die. That's why they migrate, that some of them go as far as Argentina which is 6,000 miles away which is twice the width of the USA, and that an RT has the wingspan longer than he was tall! I told him he knows something that his classmates would not know, and to tell his teacher he came to a hawk watch. His mother had taken a picture of a hawk near their house, I explained how to identify it was an RT. I asked if they had an open space near the house, as RT are hawks of open spaces, and they did have a Denver Open Space next to them. She said she was encouraging Porter if he saw something interesting to go and ask questions. I told her that we had two grandchildren his age, and they ask us questions all the time.
Weather:
Very clear air today with Denver downtown easily visible though with a little haziness to the NE of Denver. Good cloud cover with cirrus to the east and altocumulus to the east and west varying between 60 and 85%. Initially cool, hot when the sun came out, and cool and comfortable when dark cumulus clouds came in from the West. By 2:00 p.m. we had a complete ring of cumulus clouds around us - a narrow band of cumulus clouds to the north and east, with heavy broad clouds South and West. There were a few fine drops of rain in the last 30 minutes and we saw stick lightning to the SW which we've never seen here, and we got out as fast as we could. Thunder kept rumbling on our way down and 5 minutes later My Lightning app showed lightning strikes in Golden only 5 miles away.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was a Prairie Falcon at 9:22 a.m. MST found over North Table Mountain, flew toward us, then toward Green Mountain. The last 15 minutes of this hour was magical with a BW was easily seen just to the South followed by 2 immediately at eye level soaring 15 ft from us, then 6 more to the South, none needing binoculars for except for the last one which was low to the South, flew to Lookout Mountain, then dropped and gradually made its way the entire length to the east. It could easily have gone to the west and gone straight over if it's new better, except that the winds were from the west and pushed it eastward. For the last 3 hours migrant raptors were few, so we scanned high over Lookout Mountain but did not see any that high. Non-migrant raptors: a juvenile dark morph RT we've seen before, seen 3 times today "escorting" migrant RT; an adult dark morph RT missing a right 8th primary; 2 GE adult to the North and NW; TV 8; RT 3.
Non-raptor Observations:
3 paragliders together at 11:15 a.m., all tandem, so likely novices being instructed, had very good lift getting quite high so they were just barely visible to the naked eye. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS was for good lift at 9 ft per second with the height of thermals only 7,563 ft AGL as a result of an inversion layer, cooler surface temperature and cold air advection. However many of the raptors were flying at level 4 and level 5 and even level 6 helped by orographic/ridge lift; also individual thermal columns have an ultra-intense thermal core where the upward velocity is much stronger than the surrounding air, and raptors possess specialized sensory capabilities�detecting minute changes in wind torque and acceleration�allowing them to lock onto these tight cores gaining greater height; if there is moisture present the top of the thermal begins to condense into cumulus clouds releasing latent heat, which gives the air current a second burst of energy, acting like a vacuum that pulls air and the hawks riding it much higher into the atmosphere. STJA 6, WTSW 47, NOFL 1, MOBL 3, MOCH 1, AMCR 1, CORA 4, SPTO 1, RBNU 2, BBMA 1, BTHU 1, BGGN 1, PYNU 3.
Predictions:
A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm, increasing clouds, with a high near 74. Calm wind becoming north northwest 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
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