Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 18:30:00 Total observation time: 10.5 hours
Official Counter: Emma Riley, Soren Zappia , Soren Zappia
Observers: Marina Prado-Echeagaray
Visitors: It was a lively day on the ridge today with 23 visitors that came by as well as a group from Aiken Audubon, one of our partners! We really enjoyed getting to share migration with everyone that visited today.
Thank you to Andrew Jensen, Lauren Friesen, and Julie Eyden for volunteering their time today.
Weather: Today was a classic spring day on the ridge. We had warm temperatures that got up to about 25 degrees Celsius, winds that varied in direction but predominantly came from the E/NE, and virtually no cloud cover. A haze was present all day making distant birds difficult to see.
Raptor Observations: Today was our biggest day of the season so far! Migrants started coming through in the 0800 MST hour and continued through the 1800 hour, making for a 10+ hour day of birds. We had our highest count of Broad-winged Hawks, Osprey, and American Kestrels today.
The day started with birds already being distant over the W ridge and continued with that pattern for most of the day. Morning highlights included a small kettle of 3 Broad-winged Hawks, including one dark-morph!, over Mt Morrison. Osprey were seen E, W, and just N of us today. Migration slowed down during the peak of the day before picking back up in the early evening. A kettle of 10 Turkey Vultures showed up just S of the count site with 3 American Kestrels in the 1600 MST hour. The Turkey Vultures moved N before coming back S about 15 minutes later, but they put us onto the first of a great push of American Kestrels. Our late day Kestrel push was low over the W ridge with 2-3 birds being seen in one field of view at a time. As we counted endless American Kestrels, a low buteo was spotted just W of the ridge. This bird ended up being a beautiful adult Broad-winged Hawk that circled low directly overhead of us, surely giving us the best looks of the season for this species.
Warblers are slowly showing up at the site with Yellow-rumped Warblers and a few calling warblers in-flight that we weren't able to get a solid ID on. We also had a female Common Merganser come over as we were leaving the site for the evening.
Non-raptor Observations: Common Merganser 1, White-throated Swift 64, Broad-tailed Hummingbird 3, Mourning Dove 2, Double-crested Cormorant 11, American White Pelican 3, Say's Phoebe 1, Steller's Jay 1, Woodhouse's Scrub Jay 1, Black-billed Magpie 5, Common Raven 4, Black-capped Chickadee 1, Violet-green Swallow 2, American Bushtit 4, Rock Wren 1, European Starling 1, Pine Siskin 2, Spotted Towhee 2, Western Meadowlark 2, Common Grackle 3, Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's) 4, warbler sp. 3
Predictions: Temperatures will be higher tomorrow but cloud cover is predicted (fingers crossed) for the afternoon. Winds continue out of the E. ======================================================================== 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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