Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 14, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 3 67 68 Osprey 2 13 13 Bald Eagle 2 4 16 Northern Harrier 0 5 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 29 38 Cooper's Hawk 3 56 62 Northern Goshawk 0 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 4 198 291 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 1 Ferruginous Hawk 0 6 10 Golden Eagle 0 5 8 American Kestrel 0 40 45 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 3 3 Prairie Falcon 0 3 3 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 7 10 Unknown Buteo 0 3 8 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 1 3 Unknown Raptor 0 2 5 Total: 14 446 593 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 14:30:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Mike Fernandez Observers: David Gulbenkian, Jeff Wang Visitors: Jeff Wang held watch from 0700-0900 MST, reporting a local Red-tailed. Then about noon MST, David Gulbenkian arrived to help. Mitchell Blystone, out for a hike and a day off stopped by to say hello at 1130 MST. Thanks Mitchell, what committment! One runner (describing herself as a beginner birder) asked about what we were doing and took a DinoHawk card. Jeff and David departed at 1300 MST. Sidebar: Matthews-Winters was closed today due to muddy trails (sign read: Closed for resource protection and visitor safety due to muddy trails; strictly enforced, minimum fine $150). Good thing Jeffco didn't close Dinosaur Ridge too. Weather: Cloud cover changed around all day with high cirrus above and cumulus below. At one point the wind on the platform was from the southeast but the clouds were moving over from the west. Even without birds the sky was pretty entertaining today. At 12:30 MST the wind on the ridge shifted to come from the west and with sudden new force at 7 BFT for about an hour. After that the winds continued from the west gusting up 5-6 BTF rest of watch. Good cloud cover most of the day. (PWS Idledale) Raptor Observations: Migrating Raptors: The two Bald Eagles (one adult, the other a 4/5th year) spent a lot of time circling overhead, within unaided view, gaining elevation. Same with Osprey and Cooper's, who seemed to appear from below eye level on the east side of the ridge and circle up at the north end. One of the birds listed as a Red-tailed Hawk was a dark morph, but there's a friendly debate, with the aid of Jeff's photos, that it may be a Ferruginous. Non-Migrating Raptors: Tracked a minimum of three local Red-tailed Hawk individuals repeatedly during the day. A local Cooper's Hawk cycled up and down above Matthews-Winters Park. An American Kestrel (male) hover hunted over the west side of the ridge the entire time I trekked down at end of watch. Non-raptor Observations: Also seen or heard: Spotted Towhee (1), Woodhouse's Scrub Jay (1), Townsend's Solitaire (1), House Finch (1), American White Pelican (2), Black-billed Magpie (1), Common Raven (4), and White Throated Swift (5). Predictions: Monday the warm-up continues. ======================================================================== 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 -- 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/fdd139388ab7efa922a793e831f0da93%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
