Date: 3/1/26 9:33 am From: AJIT ANTONY <aiantony...> Subject: [cobirds] Completed12 Winter Raptor Surveys for HMA this winter season
We just completed the last of 12 Winter Raptors Surveys this past week for the Hawk Migration Association (HMA) we do each winter season. We have 4 different routes that we do once a month for the 3 months starting in December 2025 and ending in February 2026.
Some of the highlights of this winter season:
* Bennett to Jackson Lake route, 130 miles, the longest of our routes.
In December we had 83 Raptors including 43 American Kestrel the highest we’ve had on this route.
In January 2026 we had 51 Raptors while in February we had 54 with the only Golden Eagle (GOEA) - an adult for the season. The previous winter season we had had 5 GOEA.
I December we saw 7 Prairie Falcon which we thought was a record for this survey, but when we checked our previous surveys on the WRS website, I found that in February 2025 we had also seen 7 Prairie Falcon on the same route! Such are the vagaries of memory that I created a spreadsheet of our results, which I used extensively for this report so we could compare current versus past surveys easier.
https://1drv.ms/x/c/59e2e448ebd6beac/IQA5rdK8KmTwSLL0uAmPjGGVAX93lUWvg0AC1se1gYyGa_k?e=AgDMr4
* South and East Boulder survey, 65 miles.
For the 3 winter months respectively we counted 42,29, 54 which is the second highest we’ve had on this route (the highest being65 In January 2024.
In December 2025 we saw 3 GE - 2 adults and 1immature. We’ve only seen 2 GE both adult on the January 2025 survey, none on all the other surveys on this route since 2022.
In January 2026 we saw a dark morph RT soaring with alight morph RT.
In February we had a beautiful perched light morph Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk in a tree across the street https://ebird.org/checklist/S300510393
* Valmont Rd to Rabbit Mountain Survey, 71 miles.
For the 3 winter months we counted 67, 44 and 70 raptors respectively.
In December we had 2 adult GOEA.
In January we saw a Red-tailed Hawk (RTHA) rufous morph https://ebird.org/checklist/S296636542, and 1 RTHA streak-breasted intermediate morph; GOEA - 2 adult , 2 immature,one of which dove on an adult bald eagle!
In February we counted another rufous morph RTHA, and a dark intermediate morph RTHA https://ebird.org/checklist/S303174423and 3 adult GOEA.
The highest GOEA count on this survey was 8 on 2/23/24.
* Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR to Barr Lake survey, 78 miles.
For the three winter months we had 90, 108, and 48 respectively. The 108 is the second highest we’ve counted on this route 110being the highest In February 2023, while 48 is the lowest we’ve ever counted on this route, the second lowest being 76 in January and February 2025.
In January we saw something we’ve never seen before, which was a Northern Harrier feeding on the ice at Barr Lake. https://ebird.org/checklist/S297549608 On that survey we also counted a rufous morph RTHA, and the next day on a DFO trip we led to the same area we had a soaring dark morph Ferruginous Hawk.
We counted no Rough-legged Hawk this winter season,though they have been seen at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal NWR as per eBird by others. On 2/4/25, i.e. the previous season we did have 3 RLHA on the Bennett to Jackson Lake Survey.
The highest we’ve counted of that species was on the Rocky Mountain Arsenal to Barr Lake route, with 8 in January 2023!
The species seems to be wintering further north because of the warmer winters.
A Winter Raptor Survey from South Dakota on 2/5/26 counted 10 RLHA of 23 total raptors seen!
Anecdotally, we visited Sax-Zim Bog Area for owls in January 2025, and we saw at least 15 Rough-legs. Our guide said that they usually do not see Rough-legs at that time of the year and were quite surprised to see the number we saw. That was another warm winter, where this species has stayed way up north instead of coming down as far south as Colorado.
Anyone interested can look up any of our 12 surveys,or any Winter Raptor Survey of HMA throughout the country at wrs.hmana.org/public_html/index.php (https://wrs.hmana.org/public_html/index.php)
Of course, if you have a Winter Raptor Survey with HMA you can read our detailed notes with specific locations. which you cannot see otherwise.
Ajit and Liza Antony
Central Park, Denver.
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