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 15, 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 |
2 |
7 |
| Northern Harrier |
0 |
7 |
25 |
| Sharp-shinned Hawk |
0 |
10 |
29 |
| Cooper's Hawk |
0 |
58 |
238 |
| American Goshawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Broad-winged Hawk |
0 |
7 |
109 |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
1 |
104 |
579 |
| Rough-legged Hawk |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Swainson's Hawk |
0 |
5 |
194 |
| Ferruginous Hawk |
0 |
0 |
1 |
| Golden Eagle |
0 |
6 |
20 |
| American Kestrel |
0 |
12 |
141 |
| Merlin |
0 |
1 |
5 |
| 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 |
0 |
6 |
16 |
| Total: |
1 |
241 |
1674 |
| Observation start time: |
11:15:00 |
| Observation end time: |
14:00:00 |
| Total observation time: |
2.75 hours |
| Official Counter |
Ajit Antony |
| Observers: |
|
Visitors:
A couple asked me if I were hawk watching, which is more than most visitors know. He said his sister is involved with a hawk watch, and she turned out to be Janet Peters the coordinator of the Dinosaur Ridge Spring Hawk Watch in Golden, Colorado. I said she is a dynamo, I know her well and I have worked with her at Dinosaur Ridge, and that she was excellent getting different organizations to donate money to the hawk watch. Another couple told me that I 'chose a good place to sightsee.' I explained what I was doing. Another hiker wanted to know what I was looking for and when I told him he wanted to know if it was a specific species of hawk. I explained that we can potentially see 17 species here, migrating.
Weather:
4 a strong cold front went through between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning but it drizzled all day yesterday and into late this morning. I checked the forecast for the percentage risk of rain and checked the CDOT highway webcams and came up to the watch by 12:15 p.m. MDT. There were strong Level 4-5 winds coming from the north which is an unusual direction for us here in fall without rain or snow accompanying, so I was curious whether hawks would use the 19 mph tailwinds aloft streaming straight down from Canada to fly today. We all know that the first or second day after a cold front goes through is the best for migrant hawks, but I didn't know whether they would fly here today or not. With the strong winds I was sure that only large strong hawks would migrate.
Raptor Observations:
The first local RT was seen at 12:39 MDT and there were 6 local RT soaring high using the ridge lift over Lookout Mountain. Only 1 RT migrated. I had good cloud cover all over to be able to check the entire sky and be sure that there were no other migrants. Non-hawk watches may wonder whether I had missed any hswks flying over the clouds, but generally hawks fly below the clouds because that's where the lift is. The heavily overcast sky and the wet ground after the rain prevented any good thermals from forming. The Soaring forecast predicted zero lift, and height of thermals of only 4,419 ft above ground level by 2:00 p.m. MDT. This probably explains the lack of migrants. A GE to the NE.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Raven 14
Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 57. Light and variable wind becoming east around 6 mph. The winds aloft at a height the hawks would migrate at is expected to be light from the SE.
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (
aiantony@earthlink.net)
More information at
hawkcount.org: [
Site Profile] [
Day Summary] [
Month Summary]
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