Date: 10/10/26 3:48 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (10 Oct 2026) 12 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 10, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 11:00:00
Total observation time: 2.5 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
7 hikers asked whether we were bird watching and we explained. One wanted
to know if hawks migrate singly, and I explained the massive kettles of BW
and SW currently going through Veracruz. 3 young men were interested in
what we were looking with our telescope and I explained. They were very
interested and asked numerous questions - they did not know that hawks
migrated. They wanted to know if this was a job or a hobby, and I explained
that I have been counting migrant hawks longer than they were even thought
of - 40 years, even while I was working as a physician in New York State,
and for the past 5 years in Colorado.
Weather:
There was a weak inversion layer over Denver with mild haziness, 40% cloud
cover dropping to 25% - altocumulus to the East dissipated by the next hour
with the low humidity of 10%, and cumulus to the immediate west of the
watch which came over to the NE & SE and overhead which we scanned with
binoculars regularly but did not find any migrant hawks. Clouds, in
addition to making finding hawks easily is supposed to keep the thermalns
at a lower level, however the Soaring Forecast of the NWS predicted
excellent lift at 21 ft/second with height of thermals at 14,982 ft above
ground level AGL by 10:45 a.m. MDT i.e. 1.5 miles above the watch! The
winds aloft were from the SW.
Raptor Observations:
The first raptor was a local RT at 10:04 a.m. and the first migrant was an
RT at 10:18 a.m.
At 10:28 a.m. we saw a GE easily visible to the naked eye flying in from
the North along Clear Creek Canyon and Rising progressively soaring to the
SW until it was barely visible and seemed like a migrant. It had some white
to the base of its "split tail" which is black central adult feathers and
white on the sides, indicating a Basic III, Liza kept following it
assiduously, eventually deeming it a non-migrant as it flew NW, taking
about 6 minutes in all.
Again like yesterday most of the migrant action was over Lookout Mountain
with few along other channels we usually see migrants on.
Non-raptor Observations:
Predictions:
There is a cold front going through Denver so it may be good for migrant
hawks tomorrow. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high
near 81. West southwest wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable.
Winds could gust as high as 16 mph after 2:00 p.m.
The winds aloft are expected to be from the SW and South.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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