Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: May 02, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 6 6 111 Osprey 1 2 27 Bald Eagle 0 0 18 Northern Harrier 0 0 9 Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 4 59 Cooper's Hawk 0 2 96 Northern Goshawk 0 0 3 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 12 Red-tailed Hawk 2 2 318 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 9 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 10 Golden Eagle 0 0 11 American Kestrel 2 2 58 Merlin 0 0 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 4 Prairie Falcon 0 0 4 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 14 Unknown Buteo 0 0 9 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 3 Unknown Raptor 0 0 12 Total: 12 18 788 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 5 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Visitors: No visitors. Weather: Mostly cloudy to start but quickly becoming sunny with a band of puffy white/gray clouds along the south horizons all day. Temperatures rose from 11C to 17C with winds from the SE about 2 bft. (Surrounding foothills were a refreshing green after the recent rains) Raptor Observations: In the first half hour of the watch a fairly tightly grouped bunch of six Turkey Vultures rose from the south taking slow spirals to disappear to the north, an Osprey flew north over the Rooney Valley, and a local Golden Eagle flew south and was harassed by a local Red-Tailed. The day slowed after that with no real pattern of time or place for the remaining migrating raptors. Non-migrating raptors included a Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, and Cooper's Hawk. Solitary vultures roamed up and down the ridges and valleys and local Red-tailed activity was mostly over the west ridges. Non-raptor Observations: Three American Pelican passed from south to north along the flank of Mt. Morrison, possibly migrating. White-throated Swift could be spotted most any time after early morning and buzzing hummingbirds were common. Also seen or heard were Common Raven, Spotted Towhee, American Robin, Western Meadowlark. Predictions: Possibly still some steam left in the season? My last official day and I wanted to say thanks to counters who all wrote good descriptive daily reports. They gave me a snapshot sense of what it was like to be there, with the excitement of sightings, the sometimes weather discomfort, and the pleasure of the scenery. Wish I could have been there on some days (and was glad I wasn't on a few). ======================================================================== 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/598cc1d01bb75add0f8d084835791f60%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
