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 09, 2026 | |||
| Species | Day's Count | Month Total | Season Total |
| Black Vulture | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Turkey Vulture | 0 | 21 | 269 |
| Osprey | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Bald Eagle | 0 | 1 | 6 |
| Northern Harrier | 1 | 7 | 25 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk | 2 | 10 | 29 |
| Cooper's Hawk | 4 | 50 | 230 |
| American Goshawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk | 0 | 7 | 109 |
| Red-tailed Hawk | 13 | 85 | 560 |
| Rough-legged Hawk | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Swainson's Hawk | 1 | 5 | 194 |
| Ferruginous Hawk | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Golden Eagle | 1 | 5 | 19 |
| American Kestrel | 1 | 11 | 140 |
| Merlin | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Peregrine Falcon | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Prairie Falcon | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mississippi Kite | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Accipitrine | 0 | 1 | 4 |
| Unknown Buteo | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Unknown Falcon | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Eagle | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Raptor | 1 | 4 | 14 |
| Total: | 24 | 208 | 1641 |
| Observation start time: | 08:30:00 |
| Observation end time: | 12:30:00 |
| Total observation time: | 4 hours |
| Official Counter | Ajit Antony |
| Observers: | Liza Antony |
Weather:
Mild haze around Denver, perfectly blue sky initially 20% and 35% cloud cover in the last 2 hours respectively all of which was cumulus clouds coming in from the West.
Raptor Observations:
The first raptor was a local RT in the Kestrel Channel. The first migrant was only seen by 10:18 a.m. MDT which was a UR extremely distant to the SE. Most of the migratory activity was over Lookout Mountain. A migrating AK was seen diving on an RT. The GE was missing an outer primary and many secondaries. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS was excellent with lift of 18 ft/second and height of thermals by 10:45 a.m. MDT of 13,018 ft AGL - more than a mile above the watch. Once hawks began showing up they came through the regular channels though much farther off. This is probably because of a mild inversion layer caused by the high pressure zone keeping the height of the thermals low, i.e. blue sky thermals, and I guessed that once the haze around Denver cleared up, hawks would fly at the maximum height of thermals and we wouldn't see them at all, but I was wrong - we kept seeing small numbers of hawks every hour migrating. I was telling Liza that when there is a strong ridge lift as there was in the last 2 hours with gusts to Level 5 (18-24 mph), in addition to the primary mountain standing wave there is also a secondary wave to the lee side/west, so we were scanning the clouds for any raptors there which we did not find. Non-migrant raptors: SS 1, RT 2. A TV in the last hour was found high to the South rising ever higher, moving to the South, we had to watch it for 10 minutes in turn because our shoulders hurt holding binoculars, until it went East and then Northeast!
Non-raptor Observations:
2 paragliders at 11:15 a.m., a tandem one which had no lift at all, and a single one which had moderate lift. One at noon had only moderate lift.
Predictions:
Increasing clouds, with a high near 82. West southwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south in the afternoon. The winds aloft are predicted to come from the SW.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at hawkcount.org: [Site Profile] [Day Summary] [Month Summary]
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