Date: 11/11/26 5:21 pm From: <reports...> Subject: [cobirds] Mount Zion Hawk Watch at Windy Saddle Park (11 Nov 2026) 8 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 11, 2026
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Observation start time: 09:45:00
Observation end time: 13:30:00
Total observation time: 4.25 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Liza Antony
Visitors:
Just before I reached the watch there were 2 men sitting on one of the
steps, and one said You made it! I replied I do it daily, and of course
they wanted to know Why, and I explained. They said they saw a hawk in a
tree. I said it's probably an RT. If you want to come up you can look at it
through my scope. They did and were blown away by its beauty 'Awesome,' and
I explained how to identify its 'hangman's hood,' (I had to explain why a
hangman wore a hood - for anonymity, to avoid retribution) and white
scapulars (of course I didn't use jargon). I showed them how to take a
picture using the scope and their cell phones. One of them had an Oredigger
shirt which meant he was a student at the School of Mines, the reputed
engineering school and the other was his father who showed me a picture his
drone had taken - also an RT. They hadn't heard of the Merlin app the
features of which I showed them on my phone. They were most impressed.
As I was packing up to leave a woman told the man with her - Townsend's,
while looking at her phone. Are you using the Merlin app? No, said the man.
Yes, said the woman. It's right there on that tree. You can look at it
through my scope. They did and loved the detail. It flew to another tree
where I couldn't find it. It's back, the woman said excitedly, and they
looked again. I invited 2 other hikers to look and they too thought the
bird was beautiful, praise indeed for a relatively drab-looking bird. I
pointed out the eyering, the tan wing bars and the white of the outer tail
feathers - all of which they could see. The woman wanted to take a picture
of my scope, for the name to buy one. I said the first thing would be to
get bidnoculars. We have a pair in the car. Forget a scope for now and get
binoculars for both of yourselves, and look for a local bird club where you
learn and see lots of birds and more important know where to go to find
birds. They were very thankful.
Weather:
The same degree of haze around downtown Denver as yesterday as well as the
brown cloud. The winds aloft were moderate from the NW but the winds at the
watch were Level 4 from the ESE already. This seemed a perfect combination
where the NW winds would push hawks down down from Wyoming to the east of
the watch, and the ESE winds would push them toward the watch, especially
after a weak cold front had gone through yesterday late afternoon.
Weather.gov had predicted 9 to 5% cloud cover but we had 20% when we
started and 45% when we left. The Soaring Forecast of the NWS had the
Thermal Soaring Index as Fair, lift at 5 ft/sec and thermal height by 1:45
p.m. of 4357 feet AGL which would make it only 2557 ft above the watch.
Raptor Observations:
There were no hawks seen until 10:53 a.m. (likely caused by the absence of
thermals because of the subsidence inversion layer capping thermal height)
when the first RT adult was seen rather distant to the SE seen through the
wires of the easternmost antenna on Lookout Mountain, Level 5 height of
flight. We usually see them larger looking at that location, but this one
was smaller-looking through binoculars so it was much further off from us.
Again, only RT migrating today.
All the migratory action was over Lookout Mountain except for one RT: At
11:54 a.m. about 20� AGL over North Table Mountain I saw a dark looking
hawk completely tucked-in gliding rapidly to the SSE. We struggled to
identify it. Initially it looked like a GE, very steady. I managed to see
it with my scope without much help as it stayed tucked-in with only two
partial flaps, eventually it turned face-on when it passed the antennaeon
Lookout Mountain and I could see a vaguely reddish tail and shorter wings-
an adult RT.
Most of the migrant RT were so far as not to be able to be certain as to
its age without a scope.
The last RT at 12:07 p.m. was 40� AGL to the ENE, found only by binocular
scanning.
The last 2 hours we saw no hawks, and as the hawks were already flying at
level 5 height of flight, we assumed this was because they were flying
beyond binocular range, so we left. At both at the beginning and the end of
the watch when there were no hawks visible we scanned high all over the
east as well as over Lookout Mountain scanning two and three binocular
fields above.
Non-raptor Observations:
A pair of Townsend's Solitaire countersinging to maintain their winter
territories, occasionally one chasing the other when it strayed into its
territory.
https://ebird.org/checklist/S409866452 At 12:21 p.m. a paraglider had no lift, but 6 paragliders after 1:00 p.m.
went quite high, consistent with the Soaring Forecast and our observations
of the level of flight of migrant hawks today.
Predictions:
Sunny, with a high near 66. West wind 5 to 8 mph becoming light and
variable.
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Report submitted by Ajit Antony (<aiantony...>)
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