Dinosaur Ridge
Colorado, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 15, 2015
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total
------------------ ----------- -------------- --------------
Black Vulture 0 0 0
Turkey Vulture 3 65 65
Osprey 1 5 5
Bald Eagle 0 0 1
Northern Harrier 0 1 2
Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 13 19
Cooper's Hawk 5 32 35
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 2 48 121
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 1
Swainson's Hawk 0 3 3
Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 2
Golden Eagle 0 1 4
American Kestrel 9 67 86
Merlin 3 3 3
Peregrine Falcon 0 2 5
Prairie Falcon 0 1 3
Mississippi Kite 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 0 8 12
Unknown Buteo 1 5 8
Unknown Falcon 0 0 1
Unknown Eagle 0 0 0
Unknown Raptor 0 4 5
Total: 25 258 381
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 08:30:00
Observation end time: 14:45:00
Total observation time: 6.25 hours
Official Counter: Bill Wuerthele, Jeff Birek
Observers: Bill Wuerthele, Chris Gray, Colleen Dorczuk, Jeff Birek,
Roger Rouch, T.C. Walker
Visitors:
Jim Low and Colleen Dorczuk visited the site and lent their keen eyes for
most of the day. A couple of nice ladies who knew about the HawkWatch came
up and stayed for a few minutes.
Weather:
There was heavy cloud cover in the morning building to the northwest and a
strong, steady northeast wind. There was dust and haze to the southeast of
the site. The weather cleared and the wind died for a short bit mid-day,
but the clouds were mostly dense with some clear patches by the end of the
day.
Raptor Observations:
Had a nice little movement of American Kestrels and 3 Merlins. They were
mostly flying below us hugging the east side of the ridge to make use of
the orographic lift. We had some great looks at these birds from above,
which is always a treat! We saw a resident Golden Eagle fly east from Mt.
Morrison and one of the pair of resident Peregrine Falcons showed up for a
little bit. We saw several local Red-tailed Hawks both near and very far
(scope ID'ed). We saw eagles and buteos using thermal updrafts to the
south, but the smaller raptors seemed to be flying low.
Non-raptor Observations:
White-throated Swift
American White Pelican
Rock Pigeon
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Violet-green Swallow
Barn Swallow
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Spotted Towhee
Black-billed Magpie
Western Scrub-Jay
Western Meadowlark
American Robin
Mountain Chickadee
Common Raven
Painted Lady (Butterfly)
Predictions:
Might be a little migrant push in the morning, but the rest of tomorrow and
Friday look stormy.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Jeff Birek ([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/20150416035051.3116.qmail%40taiga.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
