Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 15, 2017 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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 6 6 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 2 80 80 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 3 3 American Kestrel 0 1 1 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 1 Prairie Falcon 0 1 1 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 1 2 2 Unknown Buteo 1 5 5 Unknown Falcon 1 2 2 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 2 2 Total: 5 104 104 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Visitors: None. Weather: Partly cloudy, calm and seasonably warm, if not hot. A breeze from the NE around 0-1 Bft. early then from the NW around 1-2 Bft. Temps rose from the lower 50's to lower 70's. Raptor Observations: Raptors appeared to enjoy the good thermals of a warm calm day. Of five migrating, four were "at the limit of 10X binoculars". Local raptor activity was relatively light. Three or four probably local high spiraling Red-Tailed were lost in the blue or clouds before any sense of flight direction could be determined. Non-raptor Observations: Also seen were Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, American Robin, Townsend's Solitaire, Western Scrub-Jay, Mountain Chickadee. A band of eight or ten Bushtit twittered through the brush in the afternoon. Predictions: The schedule doesn't show a counter for tomorrow, Thursday. If the calm and warm weather persists, a guess would be for high fliers as thermals develop. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies ([email protected]) Dinosaur Ridge information may be found at: http://www.birdconservancy.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 Bird Conservancy of the Rockies from about 9 AM to around 3 PM from March 1st to May 7th. 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/89d1243f7360f587b42ee70309d04dd8%40www.hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
