Date: 3/31/25 5:11 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (31 Mar 2025) 23 Raptors
Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
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 state's second spring watch site.
Many raptors seen c. 1.5 miles to the West from Dinosaur Ridge, may be directly overhead at this site, we are hoping.
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 WELCONE TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT.
Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 31, 2025
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Observation start time: 07:15:00
Observation end time: 15:15:00
Total observation time: 7 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Visitors:
8 hikers asked questions about the hawk watch. A gentleman from Florida
found a hawk behind me to the NE, which turned out to be a GE which
migrated, I was able to show it to him in my 'scope. Three young men wanted
to know how long I had been doing this (almost 40 years), whether I worked
for National Geographic, and how many hawks I had seen. A visitor from
Minnesota told me of sandhill cranes he had seen migrating.
Weather:
Forecast was for winds from the SSE, and though I developed a bad chest
cold while traveling, I couldn't resist counting. There was early morning
fog in the valley to the East. The Soaring Forecast was excellent once the
trigger temperature was reached at 10:45 a.m. MDT, with 6.8 meters/second
lift, with thermals to 14,575 ft above ground level. By the second hour
there was excellent cirrus cloud cover everywhere. There was a faint 22°
halo around the sun.
Raptor Observations:
The first raptor was at 10:27 a.m. MDT, an SS found to the north of the
watch. A migrant GE was a Subadult IV with a spot of white on the ventral
inner secondaries and bilateral white linear marks on the dorsal spread
tail.
Non-migrant raptors: GE 2, RT 5, TV5.
Non-raptor Observations:
White-throated Swift 2, Mountain Bluebird 4, Western Bluebird 5, a turkey
gobbling, Mountain Chickadee 1, Steller's Jay 1, Townsend's Solitaire 2,
Red-winged Blackbird 1, Harry Woodpecker heard, Common Raven 3, American
Crow 2,
Predictions:
A 40% chance of rain by 10:00 a.m. and a 64% chance of snow without any
significant accumulation by noon, so I will likely stay home.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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