Date: 10/31/26 6:58 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (31 Oct 2026) 5 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 31, 2026
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Observation start time: 08:15:00
Observation end time: 14:30:00
Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
We had four hikers who had seen us here before and consequently asked
appropriate questions like How many have you seen today? Are hawks still
migrating ? How long are you going to continue counting for? How many
Golden Eagles have you seen today, from the man I showed a GE through my
scope a few days ago. Many others asked what I could see with my optical
equipment. A couple who recently moved to Denver with a 3-month old baby
chatted with me for a while about the watch and whether I was given the
equipment to use. I explained that was a volunteer, so it's all my own
equipment. A mother and young teenage son asked about the count and I said
it was low today because of the subsidence inversion layer, and explained
how it develops and how it affects migration by creating a cap above which
thermals cannot rise. The boy thanked me for explaining.
Weather:
Similar to yesterday there was a thick dense layer of haze up to 5� above
the horizon blotting out Denver completely for the entire day. Green
Mountain was mostly hidden by the thick stratus cloud/fog (which is really
cloud which reaches ground). Lookout Mountain was hazy. However it was much
less overcast with 40% cloud cover, all to the east. The NWS predicted
severe fog, but the cloud base was 8957 ft so it would be 1786 ft above the
watch. The winds aloft were mainly from the north. There was a very strong
inversion layer today which did not clear all day, else we might have had
some migration. By 11:00 a.m. the fog started lifting and blowing away from
Denver so that at times the antennae of Lookout Mountain were completely
blotted out and are visibility markedly decreased. By 1:00 p.m. we could
see Lookout Mountain fairly well through haze.
Raptor Observations:
Very poor conditions for migration today so we were lucky we had 5 raptors.
The first was an NH adult male at 11:00 a.m., the next raptor was only 2.5
hours later! I stayed until 4:00 p.m. as I kept hoping that the inversion
layer would disperse and some sort of migration would begin but it did
not.
Non-migrant raptors: GE adult 1, SS 1, RT 3.
Non-raptor Observations:
One paraglider at 11:00 a.m. MDT had no lift at all and mostly descended,
fitting with the soaring forecast which predicted zero lift.
Predictions:
It could be as bad today for migration since the Soaring Forecast predicts
a lift of zero feet per second and the trigger temperature of 18.5�C is not
predicted to be reached, so thermals should be very low.
A 20 percent chance of rain after 3pm. Patchy fog before noon. Otherwise,
mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in
the afternoon.
The winds aloft are expected to be from the south.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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