Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 05, 2014 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 24 32 35 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 0 25 Northern Harrier 0 1 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 7 12 Cooper's Hawk 3 10 25 Northern Goshawk 0 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 8 27 157 Rough-legged Hawk 1 2 9 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 8 Golden Eagle 1 1 8 American Kestrel 5 8 22 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 2 Prairie Falcon 1 1 6 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 1 3 5 Unknown Buteo 1 1 6 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 4 Total: 46 94 326 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:30:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Scott Severs Observers: Joe Lupfer, Karen Lupfer, Mitchell Blystone Visitors: We visited with 5 people about the hawkwatch. Trail had large numbers of hikers and mountain bikers. Trail was moderately muddy. Weather: Wind averaged 6-11 km/h, shifting from W to SE to N at end of day. Temperate averaged around 12ºC throughout day. Visibility was good, around 30 km with little haze. Mostly cloudy increasing from 40% to nearly 100% at end of count. Raptor Observations: Excellent help today from Mitchell Blyston, and Joe and Karen Lupfer. Bulk of migration observations occurred between 0900 and 1200 with 40 birds seen (over half were Turkey Vultures). Only 6 additional migrant raptors were seen after 1200. Eight species were seen. Local raptors observed included Red-tailed Hawks, American Kestrels, Sharp-shinned Hawk, and Turkey Vulture. Most birds were observed west of ridge. Non-raptor Observations: Other species observed in order of detection included: Spotted Towhee, Black-billed Magpie, Western Meadowlark, House Finch, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco, Townsend's Solitaire, Western Scrub-Jay, Northern Flicker, Eurasian Collard-Dove, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, American Crow, White-throated Swift, Mountain Bluebird, Rock Wren, Violet-green Swallow, Western Bluebird, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Black-capped Chickadee, and Bushtit. Predictions: Cool conditions and scattered showers may hamper thermal creation and limit raptor migration. Expect increasing numbers of migrant raptors daily as we approach the peak for Dinosaur Ridge in mid to late April. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory ([email protected]) Dinosaur Ridge information may be found at: http://www.rmbo.org/ Site Description: Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawkwatch in Colorado and is the best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Dinosaur Ridge may be the best place in the country to see the rare dark morph of the Broad-winged Hawk (a few are seen each spring). Hawkwatchers who linger long enough may see resident Golden Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks and Prairie Falcons, in addition to migrating Swainson's, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels and Turkey Vultures. Peregrine Falcons and Ferruginous Hawks are uncommon; Northern Goshawk is rare but regular. Non-raptor species include Rock Wren, and sometimes Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, White-throated Swift, American White Pelican or Dusky Grouse. Birders are always welcome. The hawkwatch is generally staffed by volunteers from the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory from about 9 AM to around 4 PM from the first week of March to the first week of May. Directions to site: >From exit 259 on I-70 towards Morrison, drive south under freeway and take left into first parking lot, the Stegosaurus lot. Follow small signs from the south side of lot to hawkwatch site. The hike starts heading east on an old two-track and quickly turns south onto a trail on the west side of the ridge. When the trail nears the top of the ridge, turn left, head through the gate, and walk to the clearly-visible, flat area at the crest of the ridge. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/20140406050620.14034.qmail%40taiga.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
