Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 28, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1 1 1 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 12 12 Northern Harrier 1 1 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 9 9 Cooper's Hawk 2 5 5 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 10 93 93 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 4 4 Golden Eagle 0 3 3 American Kestrel 2 5 5 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 0 0 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 1 3 3 Unknown Buteo 0 5 5 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 2 2 Unknown Raptor 0 2 2 Total: 18 145 145 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:45:00 Observation end time: 13:30:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Jane Haddock Visitors: Gerhard Langlois helped spot earlier in the day. Also, John Trinkle and family, including grandsons on spring break, helped spot in the morning and tolerated brief raptor explanations. Weather: Partly cloudy all day with a light atmospheric haze and moderate darker horizon haze. There was a breeze in the morning of about 1 Bft. from the SE becoming a brisk wind about 3 Bft. later. The afternoon wind shifted from the SE to N and back again several times in the afternoon (which seemed unusual). Temperatures rose from the high 40's to the mid-60's. Raptor Observations: Migration didn't pick up until later morning and continued through early/mid-afternoon. There was a pattern of observations that did not require binoculars close to the east ridge slope and over the Rooney valley above and below eye level. But also a mix over Green Mountain and the west ridge line with some at the limit of binoculars. Some of the more distant raptors faded into the distant haze or clouds before they could be counted or identified. The day's highlight was a migrating Northern Harrier (female or immature) a little above eye level and close to the east side of the ridge. Resident raptors were typical and included a couple or few Turkey Vultures, an unid. accipeter, unid. eagle and one or two active Red-tailed pairs. Non-raptor Observations: Also seen or heard included Rock Pigeon, Black-billed Magpie, Common Raven, American Crow, Canada Geese, Blue Jay, chickadee, Bushtit, and Woodhouse's Scrub-jay, Townsend's Solitaire, and American Robin. And possibly heard a hummingbird, but could have just been wishful thinking. Predictions: Maybe an interesting day judging from the last two, assuming the weather holds and it's not a rain out. ======================================================================== 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/26cb8f5804ddaf38690fd9750e51817f%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
