Date: 8/31/26 5:08 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (31 Aug 2026) 25 Raptors
Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park
Golden, Greater Denver, Colorado, USA
To see hourly weather data and details of migrant raptors, look up this watch at hawkcount.org.
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 if you are interested.
See https://groups.google.com/g/cobirds/c/Oznn4uc6MBk
Daily Raptor Counts: Aug 31, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 4.5 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
2 hikers asked what we were looking for.
Weather:
No smoke today over Denver, but there was a very mild haziness all over,
even though the visibility was clear to DIA 39 km/25 miles.Completely
overcast for most of the day with low stratus clouds, beautiful ground
glass appearance perfect for finding hawks against.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrants were an RT ie diving onto a TV over the second antenna
from the left on Lookout Mountain, and both migrated. In the 9:00 MST hour
we saw an OS over North Table Mountain and once it went South of South
Table Mountain against the trees and houses of Lakewood, we lost sight of
it, but knowing that flight path and knowing that it would lose lift, we
scanned the area at the base of the north end of Lookout Mountain where we
found it, where it used the ridge lift and thermals to soar and fly SSE
just west of Green Mountain. In the 11:00 hour we saw 2 juvenile CH over
North Table Mountain chasing and diving on each other repeatedly seeming to
be non-migrants, they then went north, then west, and finally went South
over Lookout Mountain taking more than 5 minutes from the time we first saw
them.
Non-migrant raptors: CH 1, SS 2, AK 1, TV 8, RT 10.
Non-raptor Observations:
The first paraglider at 10:45 a.m. DST had no lift and could not even rise
to our level, 3 at 11:30 caught thermals but got only a little higher than
our level. The Soaring Forecast had lift at 14 ft per second with the
height of thermals only 10,280 ft AGL which is only half a mile above the
watch, good for us as we would be able to find hawks at that height.
BGGN 1, WTSW 3, VGSW 2, WEBL 8, TOSO 1, WOSJ 1, WBNU 1, BTHU 2, MOCH 1,
NOFL 1, CORA 5, AMCR 1.
Predictions:
A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms between noon and 3pm. Cloudy
through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 83. Light and
variable wind becoming northeast 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. Chance of
precipitation is 20%.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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