Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 19, 2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 6 42 44 Osprey 7 16 16 Bald Eagle 1 1 15 Northern Harrier 0 0 1 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 27 32 Cooper's Hawk 16 36 42 Northern Goshawk 1 1 1 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 35 66 66 Red-tailed Hawk 9 22 105 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 3 5 6 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 0 Golden Eagle 0 2 4 American Kestrel 28 44 49 Merlin 4 6 7 Peregrine Falcon 3 5 7 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: 123 273 407 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:15:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 5.75 hours Official Counter: Carol Cwiklinski Observers: David Gulbenkian, Steve Small Visitors: We conducted this count at the power line to avoid public contact. We had no visitors. Weather: Winds started out NE for the first two hours then were variable the rest of the day. It was generally light. Luckily we had helpful cloud cover for the count period ranging from 30%-80%. Thermals were excellent. Raptor Observations: Raptors were mostly high taking advantage of the excellent thermal lift. Most of the birds flew high over Dino or high over the valley and ridges to the west. A few birds did fly on the east side of the ridge. We had three excellent looks at our favorite birds of the day an adult dark broad-winged hawk, an immature northern goshawk, and an adult dark Swainson’s hawk. Non-raptor Observations: Many hikers were on the trail and few wore masks. The trail was very muddy but is beginning to dry out. We observed broad-tailed hummingbirds, rock wren and many white-throated swifts, ======================================================================== 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/e47254fe85e4ffe5b2dbe42e250fb182%40hawkcount.org.
