Date: 9/23/26 7:13 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (23 Sep 2026) 40 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: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 12:15:00
Total observation time: 3.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Weather:
What's getting to be usual is the inversion layer with haze around Denver.
Perfect hawk watching cloud cover 100% - altostratus to the East,
altocumulus overhead to the South, and stratocumulus to the West, all of
which provided the perfect backdrop to be able to see hawks as well as to
scan with binoculars without any eye strain even high up. The overcast sky
would also serve to reduce the height of thermals. The Soaring forecast of
the NWS predicted lift of 6 ft per second and maximum height of thermals
7345 ft AGL by 1:30 p.m.. The winds aloft were from the South. Surprisingly
there was snow on the 14ers visible from the watch, specifically Mount Blue
Sky which had partly melted by the time I left. At that time there were
very dark clouds to the West with rain falling.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was a very distant AK beyond Green Mountain found only
through my scope while looking at a TV at 10:26 a.m. MDT. Migrants could be
seen coming from every direction, from the NE, overhead, and from the NW,
as well as finding them past the watch to the South and SE. By the 10-11
hour MDT Raptors were already at Level 4 (needing binoculars too see). BW
initially found with the naked eye and thereafter only with binoculars in
every hour, singly and up to 3 together. A single SW.
An adult GE at the top of Lookout Mountain dove to the NE toward Golden
doing its undulating roller coaster) sky dance which I presumed was
territorially directed, and sure enough it was chasing as much smaller
raptor CH size very low.
At 11:30 a.m. I found a 'kettle of 7 BW' a distance to the South but they
turned out to be an unkindness of ravens.
Predictions:
A chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Mostly
cloudy, with a high near 69. Light and variable wind becoming north 5 to 7
mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 50%, though there's a chance
of precipitation of 37% in the morning.
If it rains all day tomorrow, Friday could be a good day for migrants,
though the predicted winds aloft are from the SSW.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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