Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
Colorado, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 20, 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 0 8 8
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 1 1
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 50 50
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Ferruginous Hawk 0 3 3
Golden Eagle 0 1 1
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 1 1 1
Unknown Buteo 0 2 2
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 1 1
Unknown Raptor 0 1 1
Total: 5 68 68
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:45:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 4.25 hours
Official Counter: Joyce Commercon
Observers: Jane Haddock
Visitors:
Hikers and bikers were once again frequenting the trail, which was much
improved but still had icy and muddy spots. Several, all polite, came up to
the platform but only for the view.
Weather:
The sunny, clear, blue-sky day was reasonably warm with the temperature
staying at 9 to 10 C during the watch. Winds from the east were fairly
constant and ranged from bft 2 to low bft 4. Large patches of snow remained
west of Dinosaur Ridge in the valley and on the ridges but there were only
small scattered spots of snow to the east in Rooney Valley and on Green
Mountain.
Raptor Observations:
Zero cloud-cover made it difficult to spot and follow any high-flying
raptors today; it is possible we missed a few. The 10:00-11:00 am MST hour
contained nearly all the day's migrants. These were spotted circling up far
south of the platform and were able to be tracked with binoculars at an
estimated Height-of-Flight 4. The migrating unidentified accipiter did take
the time to briefly attack a concurrently migrating Red-tailed Hawk before
shooting north.
The local Red-tailed Hawks made a few appearances, mostly keeping to the
western ridges and valleys. A local Golden Eagle was also spotted a few
times in the distance. It was good to have two sets of eyes today.
Non-raptor Observations:
The excitement (or disturbance) of the afternoon was a pair of mid-sized,
four-engine turboprop military transport planes that, flying close, one
after the other, buzzed the platform as they headed south along the west
side of Dinosaur Ridge; they continued low down the west-side valley,
swerving to fly over Red Rocks. Of the half-dozen paragliders coming south
from Lookout Mountain, only three came south of the platform, two near
Mount Morrison and one at eyelevel just to the east. Also seen or heard
were Townsend's Solitaire, Black-billed Magpie, several American Robins,
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Common Raven, Northern Flicker, Rock Pigeon,
Mountain Chickadee, and several American Crows.
========================================================================
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/cb45f2beb923a7ef297c3e6ab3676b40%40hawkcount.org.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
