Date: 11/12/24 5:05 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (12 Nov 2024) 4 Raptors
Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated so only in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st fall hawk watch. 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.
Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 12, 2024
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Observation start time: 12:15:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 2.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
A young man who was a climber and an independent filmmaker was curious what
we were doing. I explained and told him about hawkcount.org which he
immediately placed on his phone – I told him how he could find reports of
any hawk watch, any year, any month, any day. I showed him a Townsend's
Solitaire through the scope which he thought was beautiful.
Weather:
The prediction was for SW winds changing to West at noon, with strong gusts
to 16 mph later. The winds were light with gusts to Level 5 on the Beaufort
scale (19-24 mph) for the 1st 2 hours followed by variable winds, good
visibility to 25 km with light haziness, cloud cover 20>30%.
Raptor Observations:
We decided to go up in case there were some raptors migrating further West
of us (as GE are known to fly over the the continental divide) which could
be pushed in our direction by the West winds. Very few raptors migrating
past this site today. The 1st was an SS at 12:26 PM struggling mightily
against the very strong wind gusts, turning and twisting, diving twice to
get out of the wind (presumably).
The Bird of the Day correctly identified by Liza, was a rufous
(intermediate) morph adult RT, Western subspecies, except it had a red
dorsal tail with only a single narrow subterminal band (multiple narrow
bands with or without a wider subterminal band are more common) which Brian
Wheeler describes in "Raptors of Western North America" 2003, page 322.
This is the 7th dark/intermediate morph migrant raptor we've seen this fall
– Dinosaur Ridge in spring 2024 reported 9.
Non-migrant raptors: GE 3, all to the West– 1 without evident molt,
another molting its outer secondaries, and a 3rd molting multiple
secondaries – so from the molt pattern we knew they were 3 different GE.
RT 5. AK male chased by a Magpie, then kiting, hovering, and hunting all
around us.
Non-raptor Observations:
Townsend's Solitaire 1, Mountain Chickadee 1, Black-billed Magpie 3,
Steller's Jay 1, American Crow 27 (22 flying West together) Common Raven 7,
Junco 2.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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