Date: 8/24/26 5:09 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (24 Aug 2026) 14 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 24, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:00:00
Observation end time: 12:45:00
Total observation time: 4.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Visitors:
A hiker stopped and asked what I was looking at, and I explained. He was
from CT and live near the Chestnut Ridge Hawk Watch. He said he took
pictures with his camera and use AI to identify them. I suggested the
Merlin app and suggested he go on DFO trips and after a long chat, as he
left he confirmed that it was called DFO. Two women stopped and asked
whether I got good photographs. I explained I was counting migrating
raptors going south. They wanted to know how far hawks migrated, and when I
said some of them, SW go down to Argentina they were truly amazed. They
wanted to know the species and I told then we could see around 16 species
here, and I try to separate them where I can into adults versus immature
and males versus females where plumages are different, and I gave the
example of a Kestrel, and they want to know how males and females differ,
and I explained about the coverts. I asked if they like birds, and they
said Yes. I suggested the Merlin app explaining all its features, and one
of them downloaded it right there. One of them showed me a photograph taken
at her house which she thought was a teenager. It was a LEGO, which I
showed them on the Merlin app, and played the call for them. They said they
were going to Peru next month and it would come in handy. I explained that
they would have to load a bird pack for Peru. As they left, one of them
said You're wonderful.
Weather:
Denver was in a haze of wildfire smoke, though DIA was visible to the naked
eye. The air was very clear, the clearest I have seen this month. Winds
were from the West, then the east, though the winds aloft were predicted
from the north. Abundant cloud cover mainly altocumulus, with the usual
buildup of cumulus clouds from the West later on. Initially, there was a
huge cloud to the east covering the sun, which made a pleasure climbing up
to the watch, in that for the first day I was not sweaty reaching the top,
and it was actually slightly cool.
Raptor Observations:
The first raptor in the air was a non-migrant RT at 9:07 a.m. DST. The
first migrant was a juvenile SW at 9:40 a.m. DST which came from the
Northeast and went up Clear Creek Canyon just to the north of and below the
watch, followed 4 minutes later by an adult SW which was initially seen
above North Table Mountain and followed the same route but at eye level.
The 3rd migrant in the first hour, an AK female went through the 'Kestrel
Channel' which is to the East and below the watch, then catching a ridge
lift on the north face of Lookout Mountain, going past it.
In the 11:00 MST hour, I found that raptors used a different flight path,
from the top of the easternmost antenna, they would fly south, gaining
height progressively until they disappeared over Lookout Mountain at a
variable area east of the westernmost antenna which has all the drums on
it.
Non-migrant raptors: SS 1, CH 2 one of which flew along the Kestrel
Channel, RT 3, TV 7.
Predictions:
Similar to today with a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms
after 1pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Light and variable wind
becoming east northeast 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon.
The winds aloft are predicted to be light, from the NW>NNW>N>NE.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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