Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 14, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 0 6 6 Northern Harrier 0 0 0 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 11 32 32 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 1 1 Golden Eagle 0 1 1 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 0 0 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 1 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 11 41 41 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 13:00:00 Total observation time: 4 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Visitors: Two women stopped by to talk weather and ask what was going on. They were interested in the program and able to see a couple of migrating Red-tailed Hawks. Weather: Partly to mostly cloudy with brief periods of diffuse sun. Temperatures rose from the low 30's to the mid-40's with a light wind around 1 or 2 Bft from the SE and E. Nearly total snow cover on ground terrain. Raptor Observations: Not much in terms of variety, but generally close views above or just east of the ridge, with a few at eye level and below eye level. Other than a high flier in the late day, all were gliding on a dedicated north flight path with little spiraling. Very little local raptor activity. The day's highlight was a very dark dark morph Red-tailed that flew by at eye level over the Rooney valley. Non-raptor Observations: Common Raven, Black-billed Magpie, Woodhouse's Scrub-jay, American Robin, Townsend Solitaire, Canada Goose, White-breasted Nuthatch, and Canyon Wren (brief call and visual, not singing). All times reported in Mountain Standard Time. Predictions: The trail will obviously not be in idea conditions for a few days. At days end the trail past the gate at the big turn was mostly snow packed and also a couple or few inches of now. The lower trail was similar, but also had drifts to low and mid calf covering maybe 30% of the lower trail length. There is some packed trail in these areas from myself and two up and back hikers, but these areas could be a bit of challenge or prohibitive for some. There was active melting. The observation platform is mostly wet gravel but some snow pack. Sometimes post storm migration is better than average. ======================================================================== 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/23a4853c136a3a0f80524570fbb36f0e%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
