Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies
Colorado, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 27, 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 2 12 12
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 6 8 8
Cooper's Hawk 3 3 3
Northern Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 13 83 83
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Ferruginous Hawk 0 4 4
Golden Eagle 2 3 3
American Kestrel 2 3 3
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0
Prairie Falcon 0 0 0
Mississippi Kite 0 0 0
Unknown Accipiter 1 2 2
Unknown Buteo 1 5 5
Unknown Falcon 0 0 0
Unknown Eagle 0 2 2
Unknown Raptor 0 2 2
Total: 30 127 127
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 09:00:00
Observation end time: 14:00:00
Total observation time: 5 hours
Official Counter: Joyce Commercon
Observers: Carol Cwiklinski
Visitors:
Carol Cwiklinski arrived a bit early and had tallied four migrants before
this counter even reached the platform—her sharp eyes were much
appreciated, especially during the migrant rush that followed. There were
lots of hikers and bikers on the trail today. Several came up to the
platform but only one dad (hiking with his girls and carrying an infant)
thought to ask what we were watching for—but no raptors were visible at
that moment; the girls were interested in the raven flying past at the time
but were much more excited about their hike.
Weather:
The day was partly sunny, averaging about 80-percent cloud-cover, in which
thick cumulus-type and thin translucent clouds shifted positions across the
sky. The winds (bft 2-3) were initially from the southeast but shifted in
the afternoon to come more from the east. Temperatures were warm at 17 –
18.5 C. Visibility was good.
Raptor Observations:
Raptor height-of-flight was already fairly high in the morning, with most
migrants during the watch passing by at the limit of the unaided eye or
higher. Good cloud-cover made it easier to spot migrating raptors, but many
were picked up by scanning with binoculars or by just catching them while
following another high-flying migrant. Two sets of eyes were extremely
helpful today. Twenty-six of the raptors migrated past between 9:00am and
Noon MST; the twenty-seventh migrant was noted only a few minutes after
Noon. After that, the flow seemed to slow dramatically—or perhaps the
raptors were too high to detect. Many of the migrating raptors passed high
over the west-side valley.
One of the Red-tailed Hawk migrants was a very nice (likely Western)
dark-morph. The two Golden Eagle migrants passed within about 5 minutes of
each other over along the western ridges; they appeared to be immatures
with varying amounts of white in the wings and tails.
The highlight of the day was the appearance of a local adult Turkey Vulture
who came north at eye-level along the east side of the Ridge, occasionally
scratching its head with its "toes," and then turned near to the platform
to return south down the west-side valley. A local Red-tailed Hawk was
observed south on Dinosaur Ridge circling up when it abruptly stooped then
pulled up and dropped legs briefly before roller-coastering a bit. At least
one local adult Golden Eagle was also seen late in the afternoon making its
rounds.
Non-raptor Observations:
White-throated Swifts were seen high over Rooney Valley. Also seen or heard
were Bushtit, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, Spotted Towhee, Northern
Flicker, Chickadee species, American Crow, Townsend's Solitaire, and
Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay.
========================================================================
Report submitted by Matthew Smith (matt.sm...@birdconservancy.org)
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 cobirds+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit
https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/fa39193d2d5bf12c913c855e369adb18%40hawkcount.org.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
