Date: 9/8/26 6:18 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (08 Sep 2026) 70 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: 13:00:00
Total observation time: 4.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
A few hikers asked what we were looking at, with a response of Wonderful
when we explained. A hiker from Arvada said he had seen 'brown hawks' which
I told him were likely RT.
Liza found an AK high over North Table Mountain, and we were following with
binoculars and scope, describing it to each other, 4 hikers were staring
hard trying to see what we were looking at, and when it passed a cloud I
pointed it out and said If you can see this you have really good eyesight,
for it was just naked-eye visible, and ironically an older man was able to
see it. You don't need to see an optometrist, I told him.
Weather:
Light wildfire smoke over Denver which cleared up by the 12:00 DST hour,
winds were light from the East. The winds aloft were mainly from the East.
15% cloud cover to start with going up to 80% when we ended, with drizzle
and rain in the last 15 minutes with large extremely dark clouds to the SW.
On our drive down the mountain Liza got an alert that there was a
lightning strike 8 miles away NW of the watch. Between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
there was a huge cumulus clouds overhead extending east and south against
which we scanned systematically using the pattern recommended by Jerry
Liguori, but without finding any high migrants, in addition to looking high
to the North and Northeast as well. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS was for
lift at 12 feet per second, and height of thermals of 8315 ft AGL, only
about 1,200 ft above this watch.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was an RT at 9:33 a.m. DST. At that same time while
following an RT going through the Kestrel Channel/ Windy Saddle with
binoculars I saw a raptor out of the corner of my eye, and it was an adult
Swainson's Hawk which kept going south and dropping until it reached the
pines of the North face of Lookout Mountain, following which it gradually
made its way to the East, rising, coming up above the ridge at at the
antenna, rose rapidly in a thermal when I saw another one join it from the
north, and before we knew it we had a kettle of 35 SW. I said they're SW.
Liza said Check that they're not ravens, and I confirmed they were all SW
using my 'scope. They were rising in a thermal until it was a whole 10�
above Lookout Mountain (a fist width held at arm's length). they then
migrated to the SSE at 9:38 a.m. This was followed by a single adult SW
which went through the gap between Lookout Mountain and Green Mountain. 4
minutes later Liza found another kettle of 15 SW where we had seen the
original 35 SW, these followed to the SSE. At 9:56 a.m. we had 4 more SW
followed 2 minutes later by 2 more SW following the same channel, for a
total of 57 SW all within 25 minutes! All SW were confirmed using our
'scopes. My guess is since we did not see any other SW during the day they
may have roosted overnight nearby and taken to the air almost at the same
time. These are the first real kettles of SW we have ever seen, having only
read about them. The last time we saw any kettles were of BW in spring 2022
at Hook Mountain NY.
Most of the other migrants flew over Lookout Mountain, 5 of them going
through the gap. An adult GE with molt affecting its secondaries, migrated
through the gap to the SSE at 12:37 p.m. DST.
Non-migrant raptors: RT 3, TV 3.
Non-raptor Observations:
WTSW 6 with one chasing a VGSW, GTTO 1, WEBL 2, WOSJ 4, WBNU (interior West
subspecies), NOFL 1, CORA 7.
10 paragliders with one duplex, probably a trainee with an instructor as
there is a training school in Golden; and 1 hang glider which looks like a
gigantic raptor though with an anhedral. I thought that if hawks had
sentience and imagination like humans, they would worship the hang glider
as their god, given its enormous size compared to them.
Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 80. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east in the
afternoon. The winds aloft at 700 hPa which would be 4,300 ft above Golden,
and 2800 ft above the watch are expected to be light from the East.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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