Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 06, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 1 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 4 4 4 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 0 0 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: 5 5 5 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 11:00:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Joyce Commercon Observers: Camille Schiraldi Visitors: There were only a few people on the trails and no visitors to the platform. Camille Schiraldi, new to HawkWatch but not new to Raptor Monitoring, helped count our first migrant of the seasonóanother set of sharp eyes made it much easier to watch that the northward-heading Red-tailed Hawk did not return south (like a local Red-tailed mightÖ) Weather: The partly-sunny day with 70-percent cloud-cover (mostly thin and translucent) shifted quickly to a grayer, overcast day with 90-plus-percent, thicker cloud-cover. Thinning snow still covered most of the valleys and ridges. The winds, predominately from the north and northeast, were initially calm but picked up as the afternoon progressed to bft 2-3. The temperature on the platform held at 7 C for most of the time but dipped a degree or two toward the end of the watch. Visibility along the upper ridges was acceptable (at least 10 km), but a dirty white haze in the valleys to the south reduced visibility to maybe half that. Raptor Observations: All today's migrants used powered flight as they passed low and to the east of Dinosaur Ridge. Two of the Red-tailed migrants did attempt to circle up a bit over I-70 before continuing north. The highlight of the day was the adult Bald Eagle that wasted no time powering past; the tip of its otherwise very white tail showed faint red-brown muddy smudging. A couple of local Red-tailed Hawks were seen at the end of the watch: one flew north close to the platform but quickly returned south, while the other crossed Rooney Valley to drop down near the road on Green Mountain before it too returned southwest toward the Ridge. Non-raptor Observations: Also seen or heard today were Townsend's Solitaire, Rock Pigeon, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, American Crow, American Robin, Common Raven and Black-billed Magpie. Predictions: The trails and the HawkWatch platform will likely be icy in the morning. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Matthew Smith ([email protected]) Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies information may be found at: http://www.birdconservancy.org/ More site information at hawkcount.org: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=123 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/a10cd9359b38eae0e3661cdea334cace%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
