Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Emma Riley, Soren Zappia
Observers:
Visitors: It was a slow day in the visitor department with only 3 people that came and interacted with the Hawk Watch, including 2 from Maryland.
Thank you to Cayce and Chris Gulbransen, and Ryan Gannon for volunteering with us today!
Weather: We are back to the hot spring weather! Temperatures got up to 80 F with essentially no cloud cover today. Winds were a bit stronger than we expected today coming from the W again. Luckily, the winds helped cool us down a bit. Humidity was low today and we definitely felt it in the dry heat.
Raptor Observations: Migration has been slowly picking up but is definitely a bit slower than the last few March counts so far. Today was slower than the last few days but we had a nice little push of American Kestrels in the second half of the day. The highlight of the day was a dark-morph Harlan's Red-tailed Hawk that came close by on the E side of the ridge in the afternoon. We also had a dark-morph Ferruginous Hawk fly pretty far over Green Mountain. Yay dark-morph birds!
The Mountain Bluebird movement continues strongly with our highest day this season of 236 moving N. They continue to come in flocks of 3-40+ right along the hogback. We also had a few good sized flocks of geese move through the area today. Raptor migration may be a bit slow but we always something to look at.
Non-raptor Observations: Canada Goose 17, goose sp. 101, White-throated Swift 2, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay 1, Common Raven 3, Black-capped Chickadee 2, American Bushtit 2, Mountain Bluebird 236, Townsend's Solitaire 1, American Robin 1, Pine Siskin 2, Dark-eyed Junco 1, Spotted Towhee 2
Predictions: Tomorrow will be another hot day with minimal cloud cover. Winds continue to come from the W tomorrow. If you are planning on coming up to the ridge please bring more food and water than you expect to need. The heat and low humidity is no joke! ======================================================================== Report submitted by Official Counter of the day shown above (<dinoridgehw...>) Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: www.dinosaurridgehawkwatch.org
Site Description: Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson's hawk, Ferruginous hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey Vultures. American Goshawk is uncommon but also counted each season. Non-raptor species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, White-throated Swift, and American White Pelican. Birders of any skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by Hawk Counter(s) and volunteers from March through early May.
Directions to site: From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow hawk watch signs from the southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch site. The hike starts heading east on an old two-track and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side of the ridge. When the trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, and walk to the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain: 259 feet)
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