Date: 8/23/26 6:46 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (23 Aug 2026) 11 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 23, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:15:00
Observation end time: 12:30:00
Total observation time: 4.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Zak Hepler
Visitors:
A hiker from Golden who often comes here wanted to know how many raptors I
saw the day before, and what they were.
A young man from Texas working in Denver until November was interested in
what we were doing. He wasn't a birder but thought he would be interested,
I suggested going on DFO trips, suggested the Merlin app, told him about
Hawkcount.org all of which he put in his phone. He was interested in
photography, so Zak showed him his camera.
When I was going up the trail to the watch, an older woman with braces on
both wrists was coming down. Later I saw her up at the watch, and she
wished me luck. She walked the trail 294 ft elevation 5 times up and down
in preparation for a trip to the Dolomites and the Grand Canyon!
Weather:
The usual wildfire smoke in the morning over Denver gradually clearing,
light winds mainly from the SW becoming level 4 (13-18 mph) by the 10:00
MST hour, and by the 12:00 hour changing to NW, though there were gusts
from different directions all morning. Cloud cover stayed around 30-40%,
visibility improving from an initial 19 to 39 km. The winds aloft were from
the East at 14-17 km/h.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was an immature RT at 9:28 a.m. DST. The main migrant
movement still of TV and RT, with a single AK extremely high.
Non-migrant raptors: adult GE, CH 2 one attacking a raven 3 times, Rt 7, TV
5 with 3 of them perching on the antennae.
Once the strong West winds at Level 4 began, the flight practically stopped
for the day. In the last 2 hours there were only 2 migrants counted. Local
birds were seen at great heights.
The Soaring Forecast of the NWS predicted thermals reaching
11,446 feet above ground level, so roughly 4,000 ft above the level of the
watch, so perhaps the migrants were flying, but beyond binocular
detectability - see Gauthreaux and Kerlinger's research studies in the
1970s using a portable radar showing just that, that also explained the
"noon lull."
I had Zak Hepler help me this morning. He is very good at finding distant
raptors that I find and give him directions to, as well as finding them
himself, and finding them in his scope. We had a long chat about raptors,
birding, another topics that interested both of us. I pointed out the
slowly spinning ring-shaped or crescentic clouds that cap thermals. He was
avid to learn everything I could share with him. I told him that I would
share what I know and I've learned in 40 Years of hawk watching/ counting.
He even asked if he could put the weather data into the form on the hour.
Now, that's interest!
Non-raptor Observations:
4 propeller planes flying in formation, which I've seen before from this
site.
WTSW 5, STJA 2, MOCH 1, VGSW 1, RBNU 1, AMCR 1, CORA 2.
Predictions:
A 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Increasing
clouds, with a high near 90. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming east in the
afternoon. The winds aloft are light, predicted to be from the SW changing
to East.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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