Date: 8/1/26 8:46 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (01 Aug 2026) 3 Raptors
Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO THE HAWK WATCH TO ENJOY THE SPECTACLE OF RAPTOR MIGRATION, EVEN IF YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IDENTIFYING RAPTORS IN FLIGHT. We will help you to learn Raptor ID.
See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk This is a new raptor migration site identified and designated in mid-September 2024. This is Colorado's 1st and only fall hawk watch site.
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: Aug 01, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 12:00:00
Total observation time: 4 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
Two hikers asked what we were looking at. I explained.
Weather:
The forecast was for light Northeast winds all day with a high of 90�F.
There was smoke from forest fires from Southwest and Western Colorado
reducing clear visibility to only 2 km. so downtown Denver could barely be
seen. By 10:40 a.m. DST there were about 40 small puffy thermal clouds far
to the West.
Raptor Observations:
Historically there have been no fall hawk watches in Colorado. In 2024 fall
we began this hawk watch as an exploratory watch, as the only fall count in
Colorado, and counted 576 migrant raptors, and because of this we did an
exploratory count in fall 2025 at Dinosaur Ridge which is a solely spring
watch, which is only 4 miles to the southeast of Mount Zion, when,
surprisingly we counted only 237 migrants, but tallied 68 Swainson's Hawk,
which was the 3rd highest count compared to all the spring counts at the
same site since 1990. We decided to go back to counting at Mount Zion in
2026 fall, but beginning August 1, as we had counted 49 of the Swainson's
Hawk in the month of August 2025 at Dinosaur Ridge, and on the first day
there on August 19, 2025 we had 14 SWHA indicating that the fall migration
for the species started earlier. However, we are not sure we will
necessarily see the same migrant raptors we could see from Dinosaur Ridge.
There were only three migrants, all RTHA, 2 over Green Mountain and 1 over
Lookout Mountain.
Non-migrant Raptors: RTHA 7, TUVU 6, BAEA 1 adult, COHA 1.
Non-raptor Observations:
There were 11 paragliders and three hang gliders aloft, and initially they
had very little lift rising only a little above our eye level, but by 12:00
p.m. DST they managed to gain good height.
Common Nighthawk 5, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, White-throated Swift 1,
Violet-green Swallow 4, Barn Swallow 2, Townsend's Solitaire 3, Mountain
Chickadee 1, Broad-tailed Hummingbird 2, Green-tailed Towhee 1, Spotted
Towhee 1, American Crow 1.
Predictions:
Sunny and hot, with a high near 100. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 16
mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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