Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 18, 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 29 36 38 Osprey 7 9 9 Bald Eagle 0 0 14 Northern Harrier 0 0 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 13 17 22 Cooper's Hawk 17 20 26 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 31 31 31 Red-tailed Hawk 5 13 96 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 2 2 3 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 2 4 American Kestrel 7 16 21 Merlin 2 2 3 Peregrine Falcon 2 2 4 Prairie Falcon 0 0 2 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 2 Unknown Buteo 0 0 4 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 4 Total: 115 150 284 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 4.75 hours Official Counter: Carol Cwiklinski Observers: Karen Bellina, Steve Small Visitors: Karen Bellina helped locate raptors for the last hour of the day. There were quite a few hikers, and a couple people looking for the US Air Force Thunderbirds flyover. We saw the formation late in the day passing Golden heading towards Denver. Weather: Mostly cloudy throughout the count period. Winds generally light N-NE. There were a few sun breaks with comfortable temperatures. It remained dry but storms developing from the south ended our observations at 1300. Raptor Observations: Birds were fun to watch today as many flew close to Dino ridge. Many were at eye level and several flew just over our heads and straight at us along the ridge top. We saw some very low on the East, so close in to the ridge they were sometimes hard to spot. Later in the day as thermals developed we had a nice flight of high birds, some in kettles. We saw few birds flying along the western ridge. Non-raptor Observations: Hundreds of white-throated swifts were flying today. We also saw violet green and tree swallows, and several small groups of yellow-rumped warblers. ======================================================================== 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/416ab93f2b59ba4eb1f6e0f90058ac63%40hawkcount.org.
