Date: 8/17/26 5:04 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (17 Aug 2026) 12 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 17, 2026
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Observation start time: 09:15:00
Observation end time: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 3.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
An older birder/hiker said he saw a Cooper's Hawk on Lookout Mountain
making a whistling sound which he had never heard. I hadn't either, and
looked it up online and told him when he was on his way back that it was
from a juvenile CH, amd he said, Oh yes it had a streaked breast.
Weather:
Initially there was some haze or Denver from wildfire smoke from western
states, however this cleared up and we could even see Denver International
Airport with the naked eye at 39 km away. Initially pleasant, but
unbearably hot by the end, even with our umbrellas! Winds were light from
the East, though the winds aloft prediction by earth.null school.net showed
it coming from the West, good cloud cover - cirruss to the East and cumulus
to the West, becoming cumulus all over.
Raptor Observations:
We had our first little group of 3 Swainson's Hawk at 10:43 a.m. DST that's
Liza found over South Table Mountain, which I confirmed with my scope,
followed by another one a minute later. Typically, they rose a little in
height but once they left South Table Mountain they lost lift because of
the large number of trees, golf course and houses, eventually traveling
between Green Mountain and Lookout Mountain, which is where we would see
them a year ago when we counted at Dinosaur Ridge in fall, where we had
started counting on August 19, 2025 when we had 14 SW, so their flight
dates seems to be fairly consistent in the area.
Non-migrant raptor sightings: AK 1, CH 1 which which briefly chased an
WTSW, RT 6, TV 14.
Non-raptor Observations:
The first paraglider at 10:41 a.m. DST had no lift whatsoever and could not
even rise to our level. 4 more at 12:00 p.m. and good lift, rising quite
high, so we looked higher in the sky for migrant raptors who would have the
same and better lift as they were much smaller.
Red Crossbill 6, Bushtit 5, LEGO 1, SPTO 1, VGSW 1,BTHU 1,BLJA 1.
Monarch butterfly 2.
Predictions:
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Increasing
clouds, with a high near 90. West wind 6 to 9 mph becoming northeast in the
afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 15 mph.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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