Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 08, 2015 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 1 1 Northern Harrier 0 0 0 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 3 10 10 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 2 2 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 1 1 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 3 14 14 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:30:00 Observation end time: 13:45:00 Total observation time: 5.25 hours Official Counter: Lee Farrell Observers: Linda Farrell, Mike Fernandez Visitors: Several hikers stopped by the station at mid-day to rest and soak up some sunshine, a few of them inquired as to what we were doing. Weather: Mostly sunny with high, relatively thin, cirrus clouds covering 50% to 75% of the sky. A temperature of about 0C in the morning rose to about 10C at 1400 hrs. Winds out of NE in the morning moved around to the SE in the afternoon. Winds were light at 1 to 2 BFT throughout the day. Raptor Observations: The resident male American Kestrel spent the entire morning, about 3 hours, perched on the power lines directly east of the station. The local Prairie Falcon arrived at its regular perch on the power poles south of the station at about 0930 MST, it spent about 15 minutes there before moving on to the south. Several local Red-tailed Hawks were observed throughout the day. Two birds perched and hunted from the power poles east and below the station, while others were seen over west ridge. Within minutes of each other, three migrating Red-tailed Hawks were observed moving north above west ridge at about 1230 hours. They provided the sum total of migration activity for the day. Non-raptor Observations: Townsend Solitaire, American Robin, Black-billed Magpie, American Crow, Common Raven, White-breasted Nuthatch, Mountain Chickadee and Western Scrub-Jay were observed. Predictions: Tomorrow's weather is predicted to be very similar to today's. Should be a nice day, light winds out of the south suggest light migration activity consistent with that of today. The lower portion of the trail is at maximum muddy, while the upper portion is icy in the morning and wet and sloppy snow in the afternoon. ======================================================================== 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/20150309054506.7740.qmail%40taiga.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
