Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 17, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 79 80 Osprey 2 19 19 Bald Eagle 0 4 16 Northern Harrier 0 5 6 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 39 48 Cooper's Hawk 3 68 74 Northern Goshawk 0 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1 2 2 Red-tailed Hawk 1 202 295 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 2 2 Ferruginous Hawk 0 6 10 Golden Eagle 0 6 9 American Kestrel 3 46 51 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 4 Prairie Falcon 0 3 3 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 9 12 Unknown Buteo 1 4 9 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 1 3 Unknown Raptor 1 4 7 Total: 13 506 653 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 4.5 hours Official Counter: Joyce Commercon Observers: Visitors: The few visitors that came up to the platform seemed only interested in the view. Weather: The mostly-cloudy day averaged about 80-percent, thick, cloud-cover but the sky opened up for a while (50-percent cloud-cover) toward the end of the watch right after about a half-hour of light rain. The winds (mostly bft 2-3) were generally from the northeast and east. Temperatures rose from 11 C to 15 C. Visibility was acceptable; there was a light haze to the south. Raptor Observations: A little more than half of the migrating raptors today passed by in the hour-and-a-half before 11:00am MST, perhaps trying to get ahead of the weather. Most were studies in silhouette recognition and flight-style, given the high heights-of-flight (HF3-4) and the gray lighting available during most of this time period. The next hour or so had no noted migrants, until the third Cooper’s Hawk of the day was seen moving north, high over the west-side valley; it was interesting to watch it veer NW then more WNW just as the swath of light drizzly rain moving in from the north began in earnest. Near the end of the half-hour of light rain, an Osprey was spotted moving up Rooney Valley past the north end of Green Mountain. After the rain ceased and the northern sky opened up a bit, two migrants passed high over the Ridge in quick succession: a nicely-lit female American Kestrel and, the highlight of the day, an adult Broad-winged Hawk. The local Red-tailed Hawks were out and about but were out-done by the Turkey Vultures which roamed high and low, and up and down the ridges and valleys, almost incessantly. A local adult Golden Eagle also came south and soared east across southern Rooney Valley. Non-raptor Observations: Two groups of several male and female Western Bluebirds were seen moving along the Ridge; each group stopped in a few trees near the platform, appearing to call to each other and gather up together before taking off again on their journey. Also seen or heard were Western Meadowlark, Woodhouse's Scrub-Jay, Spotted Towhee, Townsend's Solitaire, Common Raven, Bushtit, Dark-eyed Junco, Tree Swallow, American Crow, and White-throated Swift. A Fox Squirrel was seen in the dead tree south-east of the platform. At least two Mule Deer were seen on Green Mountain. ======================================================================== 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/542b350aa4ff57119e96ee2dd998285a%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
