[cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (28 Sep 2026) 3 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: Sep 28, 2026
Species	Day's Count	Month Total	Season Total
Black Vulture	0	0	0
Turkey Vulture	0	117	222
Osprey	0	22	24
Bald Eagle	0	4	5
Northern Harrier	0	17	18
Sharp-shinned Hawk	0	16	19
Cooper's Hawk	0	153	167
American Goshawk	0	0	0
Broad-winged Hawk	0	100	100
Red-tailed Hawk	0	300	457
Rough-legged Hawk	0	0	0
Swainson's Hawk	0	173	188
Ferruginous Hawk	0	1	1
Golden Eagle	0	12	13
American Kestrel	3	106	126
Merlin	0	4	4
Peregrine Falcon	0	0	1
Prairie Falcon	0	1	2
Mississippi Kite	0	0	0
Unknown Accipitrine	0	3	3
Unknown Buteo	0	6	7
Unknown Falcon	0	0	0
Unknown Eagle	0	0	0
Unknown Raptor	0	9	10
Total:	3	1044	1367

Observation start time:	08:15:00
Observation end time:	10:00:00
Total observation time:	1.75 hours
Official Counter	Ajit Antony
Observers:

Weather:
Completely overcast today with stratus clouds all over, very smooth looking, perfect for finding hawks against if there had been any. Chilly. By 10:30 a.m. MDT I could see rain falling on the 14ers to the West, and by 11:00 a.m. it reached the watch causing a continuous drizzle.

Raptor Observations:
I managed to find 3 migrant AK, the first of which was at 10:12 a.m. coming up from below the top of Lookout Mountain, the second one 6 minutes later over the Eastern horizon, and the last one at 10:31 a.m. close to the easternmost antenna on Lookout Mountain. Probably because of a lack of thermals there were no buteos in flight, not even the local ones, nor any TV.

Non-raptor Observations:
Red Crossbill 19, PYNU 1, CONI 1 found while looking at an AK through my scope, RBNU 2, WEBL 8, STJA 3, TOSO 1, GHJU 2, WTSW 1, NOFL 1, HOFI 1, MOCH 1.

Predictions:
Could be same as today. A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 3pm. Cloudy, with a high near 66. Calm wind becoming north northeast around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%. The winds aloft are predicted to be from the north.

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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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