Date: 9/7/26 4:54 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (07 Sep 2026) 13 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
Observation start time: 08:15:00
Observation end time: 12:30:00
Total observation time: 4.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Visitors:
A hiker coming down while I was going up asked Counting hawks again? She
walked up and down the trail 5 times, and was consequently very slim.
Another hiker asked what I was looking at and I explained. She had many
questions, wanting to know how far they migrate and I explained depending
on the species from the Southern United States to Argentina. She made a
comparison with the migration of Monarch butterflies. I commented on the
tiny brain it had and how evolution results in its migration. Or some
higher power she said, walking away without any more questions! Another
couple earlier wants to know how many raptors I had seen. I explained I
hadn't seen any at that point with the heavy overcast sky, thermals would
not form which the raptors depend on, so I wasn't hopeful.
Weather:
For the first time there was no smoke over Denver. Heavily overcast though
DIA could be seen 25 miles to the east in sunlight, with dark clouds to the
SE with virga falling from the SE to the East, light winds initially from
the WSW changing to the ESE and actually feeling cool. The winds aloft were
from the WSW. With 100% clouds I expected no thermals and consequently a
late flight if any. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS had lift at 12 feet per
second with the maximum height of thermals 8,315 ft AGL which is only 1,000
ft over this watch, so any hawks should be fairly low. By 11:00 a.m. DST
there was filtered sunlight coming through thinning clouds and by 11:20
a.m. there was sunshine and it started becoming hot.
Raptor Observations:
There were no raptors in the sky until 11:21 a.m. DST and RT that was
local. The first migrant was an RT at 11:23 a.m.
Most of the migrant activity was over Lookout Mountain with a few going
through the gap between it and Green Mountain.
Non-migrant raptors: juvenile dark morph RT that was seen yesterday as well
was seen on 2 different occasions today "escorting" migrants out of its
territory, total RT 4, TV 1.
It appears that for this watch and myself 1:30 p.m. DST is the time when
raptors either fly so high that I can't see them or stop flying, less
likely, corresponding to the time at which the heat becomes oppressive,
when I leave.
Non-raptor Observations:
A paraglider at 11:00 a.m. had no lift staying well below my level and over
Golden, 1 at noon had moderate lift going a little higher than my level,
and one at 12:35 p.m. seem to have no lift at all dropping over the Coors
Brewery.
WTSW 1, VGSW 8, WEBL 1, SPTO 1, BTHU 1, MOCH 1, CORA 3, AMCR 2
Two young male mule deer with 6 point antlers each on the hillside below
me.
Predictions:
A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny,
with a high near 84. Light and variable wind becoming east 5 to 7 mph in
the morning. The winds aloft at the level raptors would fly is expected to
be from the East.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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