Date: 10/5/26 2:48 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (05 Oct 2026) 4 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: Oct 05, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:15:00
Observation end time: 11:00:00
Total observation time: 1.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers:
Weather:
The usual haze around Denver, perfectly blue sky so the sun felt very hot.
In the second hour there was no wind which made it hotter and sweatier, it
felt like August all over again with the high today being 88�F.
Raptor Observations:
Almost no raptors today because of the cloudless blue sky, they were
probably flying really high, as the Soaring Forecast of the NWS predicted
lift at 18 ft per second and height of thermals at 12,459 ft. above ground
level! That would be a mile above the watch by 11:30 a.m., the mile high
elevation of Denver with its consequent thinner atmosphere and no clouds
today made for super high thermals. I tried to avoid 'blue sky myopia' by
relaxing my eyes muscles and allowing my eyes to look to infinity, I
scanned along the usual hawk channels and up to two or three binocular
fields higher as well as directly overhead and could not find any hawks.
The only ones I found migrating were over Lookout Mountain. In addition the
air was hazy and I was losing hawks suddenly looking through binoculars.
Non-migrant raptors: RT 2.
Predictions:
Mostly sunny, with a high near 84. West wind 5 to 9 mph becoming calm.
However the prediction is for 35% cloud cover, so it wouldn't be as bad as
today. The winds aloft are predicted to start from the West and end coming
from the East.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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