Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 12, 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 1 1 1 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 1 11 11 Rough-legged Hawk 1 1 1 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 1 1 1 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 4 18 18 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 13:45:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Mitchell Blystone Visitors: Ann Ziegler, a volunteer from several years ago, stopped for a while. Also a short but interesting discussion with a vacationing Ontario, Canada couple who live near the Hawk Cliff Hawkwatch. Weather: Partly cloudy all day with temps rising from near 50F to the low 60's. Wind was consistently from the SE and calm in the early morning but gradually increasing to about 3 Bft. by day's end. Raptor Observations: Few migrating raptors, but an interesting species mix with a male N. Harrier flying low and progressing north to do a few altitude gaining spirals past the north end of the ridge, a high flying accipiter bee-lining north, and a nice view of a Rough-legged Hawk being harassed for some time by a raven. Local Kestrel(s) sighted four times and a local Prairie Falcon. Local Red-tailed Hawks were common from late morning to day's end. Non-raptor Observations: See or heard included Rock Pigeon, Western Meadow Lark, Bushtit, Dark-eyed Junco, a marauding band of 6 or 8 Western Scrub Jay, a flight of 15-20 American Robin going north, Black-billed Magpie, Townsend's Solitaire, and Common Raven. (Note that all period count times are converted to MST) Predictions: Unsettled weather could make for an interesting day (perhaps one way or another). ======================================================================== 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/20150312230559.7793.qmail%40taiga.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
