Date: 8/3/26 4:54 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (03 Aug 2026) 1 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 second hawk watch in Colorado.
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 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
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 03, 2026
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:45:00
Observation end time: 12:00:00
Total observation time: 3.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Visitors:
A Brit who was planning to hike the Colorado Trail 486 miles chatted with
me awhile. He wanted to know if raptors migrate in flocks, and I told him
about SW and BW and the numbers we get in New York, he was amazed, so I
told him about Vera Cruz and how he could see the numbers a different hawk
watches at Hawkcount.org.
A four-year-old girl with the family saw my scope and said Here's a picture
guy. Addressing me she asked Are you the picture guy? I replied I can be if
you want me to be.
Weather:
Initially comfortable when it was cloudy with stratocumulus, then became
hot when the sun came out, later cooler when cloudiness prevailed again.
Winds were from the West initially as predicted on earth.nullschool.net,
but in the 10:00 hour there was a 'tussle' between this wind and the ridge
lift coming up from the East, the latter prevailing by the next hour. Smoke
continued from wildfires in Utah, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest with
reduced clear visibility to 6 km, downtown Denver barely visible through
the haze - coarse 10 and fine <2.5 particulate matter and ground level
ozone. I had brought an N 95 mask with me in case, fortunately smoke is
mostly in the 500 ft above ground, and this watch is at 7156 ft above MSL
and 1876 ft above Denver. Local raptors and nighthawks were disappearing
into the haze over Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the South.
Raptor Observations:
The cloudy sky was encouraging as it gave me some hope of finding raptors,
though the sole migrant I could find was an RT at 11:55 a.m. MST. They were
probably flying much higher, since Denver is already a mile high with
hotter sunshine, a thinner atmosphere and the Rocky Mountain foothills
(where this watch is) granite heating up rapidly, resulting very strong
thermal formation, often 10,000-15,000 feet above ground level (AGL).
Non-migrant Raptors: RT 5 the first being seen at 10:50 a.m. MDT, TV 2.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Nighthawk 30 above and beyond Lookout Mountain 0.6 miles to the
South, migrating to the WSW/W; Violet-green Swallow 4; White-breasted
Nuthatch Rocky Mountain/Interior West subspecies 1; Common Raven 3;
American Crow 3.
Predictions:
A 30 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Patchy smoke.
Partly sunny, with a high near 76. East wind 6 to 8 mph.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
This is an automated email report from hawkcount.org. If you do not wish to receive these reports,
please send email to <unsubscribe...> to unsubscribe.
--
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To post to this group, send email to <cobirds...>
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate.
* Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ ---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cobirds+<unsubscribe...>
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/<0101019fca0caf4f-92fb247d-8cb1-4b2c-ab94-4367d3a613f5-000000...>
