Date: 11/4/26 7:07 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (04 Nov 2026) 30 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: Nov 04, 2026
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Observation start time: 09:15:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 4.75 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
A couple asked whether we had seen any wildlife. We explained what we were
looking for - migrating hawks and eagles, they wanted to know whether we
had seen any eagles, and I said a Golden Eagle. Very lovely, was the
response.
Another regular hiker said Great to see you guys here.
Weather:
Denver was quite hazy and it took until 1:00 p.m. to become clear though
DIA was still mildly hazy. Heavily overcast sky with cirrus and
cirrosttatus to the East, virga to the SE when we started. Once Denver
started getting clearer the brown cloud started widening between North and
ENE, later spreading to the SE.
Raptor Observations:
The first migrant was only by 9:52 a.m. and was a CH in the Kestrel
Channel.
At 11:33 a.m. a juvenile CH just above eye level in the Kestrel Channel
turned and soared a scant 20 ft above our heads before going SSW. Exciting
and beautiful.
Migratory GE at 9:58 a.m. seen to the NW going South, and another at 11:10
a.m. next to the easternmost antenna on Lookout Mountain, both adult.
We were entertained by non-migrant GE: 1. At 12:04 p.m. an adult GE was
chased by an RT and it dropped somewhere on the south face of Lookout
Mountain, at 12:12 it chased a hapless RT with strayed too close, and it
then flew low to the north over Golden. At 12:19 p.m. we saw it over North
Table Mountain and we could see it was molting a left 6th primary and some
secondaries, and it flew North, at 12:28 p.m. we saw it very far to the
North.
2. At 12:39 p.m. a different GE (with a different molt pattern with many
secondaries shorter) to the North, flew NW - we were able to show it to 2
hikers.
3. At 12:53 p.m. a subadult GE with white at the base of the tail and no
white in the wings was seen to the North flying around the stone quarry, it
spiraled up in a thermal and flew North.
4. At 1:18 p.m. a first year GE with prominent white at the base of the
tail, a carpal bar, no molt, and faint white at the bases of the primaries
came from the south and flew North.
5. At 1:50 p.m. an adult GE with a bulging crop seen close to the Eastern
end of Lookout Mountain began doing its territorial roller coaster type
flight, I knew from experience to look for another raptor in the area, and
sure enough it dove on and chased another adult GE, then flying North, 5
minutes later I saw the other one higher in the sky - neither had any
evidence molting/ missing feathers.
An AK at 1:07 p.m. paused during its migration over Lookout Mountain to
dive bomb a perched RT on a high tension pole 4 times, then sat on a wire a
short distance away for 2 minutes before continuing south.
Other non-migrant hawks: RT 3.
Migration started only after the clouds parted and sunshine hit the ground
to produce any thermals. In the morning most of the migration was along the
gap between Green Mountain and Lookout Mountain presumably because of the
poor thermal production as a result of the wet ground from the rain
yesterday and the heavily overcast sky, and lack of strong wind to produce
ridge lift on Lookout Mountain - we can feel the same wind from the ESE.
The Thermal Soaring Index was poor with lift at only 1.5 ft/sec and height
of thermals at 3941 ft AGL by 1:45 p.m. - 2,100 ft above the watch, roughly
only half a mile above the watch - hawks should be visible to us relatively
easily.
We had a good last hour with 7 migrants and we would have like to stay
longer but we had an appointment at 3:00 p.m. so we left reluctantly. This
is the second day after the strong cold front went through with an
excellent count for this time of the year at this location, even better
than the day before.
Non-raptor Observations:
Two paragliders at 9:19 a.m. had no lift whatsoever. 11 of them after 12:15
p.m. had excellent lift, some going so high as to be barely visible to the
naked eye. One paraglider hiked past us, so I asked him the weight of his
canopy, and he thought around 20 lb. They do have a span of up to 35 ft.
Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 57. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the
afternoon.
The winds aloft are predicted to be light from the South changing to the
East.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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