Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 11, 2024 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 0 0 Osprey 0 0 0 Bald Eagle 1 13 13 Northern Harrier 0 0 0 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0 Cooper's Hawk 0 2 2 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 7 74 74 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 4 4 Golden Eagle 0 3 3 American Kestrel 0 2 2 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 1 1 1 Prairie Falcon 0 2 2 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 0 0 Unknown Buteo 0 0 0 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 9 101 101 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 17:00:00 Total observation time: 8 hours Official Counter: Dustin Kohler Observers: Bill Young, Jim Howl, Joel Chapa, Mike Seruto Visitors: We had 23 visitors to the ridge today including Bill Young, Joel Chapa, Jim Howl, and Mike Serruto helping me out. Jim Howl was a visitor from another Hawk Watch. He lives in Wisconsin and has done some hawk watching in Minnesota and near Lake Superior. Weather: Partly cloudy or overcast all day today. Moderate winds from the east. Visibility was obstructed in the far distance by a haze. Raptor Observations: We had a migrating peregrine falcon rise quickly very high in the air, before going directly above us and then diving at full speed in the east. Evidently, getting a snack during their migration. We had two local red-tailed hawks fly up high and do some flirtatious diving with each other. Before the migrant peregrine, we also saw a local prairie falcon flying south and a potentially different peregrine falcon hunting along the west ridge. Non-raptor Observations: We saw two separate flocks of geese one of 17 birds and another of 25 geese. We also saw 16 mountain bluebirds fly by. Predictions: Tomorrow looks to be an overcast day with warm temperatures. The wind appears to start from the Southwest and switch to a Northern wind. I would expect that the morning should be better than the afternoon, but look for a big push before the storms later in the week. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Janet Peters (j.f.peter...@gmail.com) Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists information may be found at: http://www.dfobirds.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=123 Site Description: Dinosaur Ridge is the only regularly staffed hawk watch in Colorado and is the best place in the world to see migrating Ferruginous Hawks. Hawk watchers may see 17 species of migrating raptors; and it is an excellent site to see rare dark morph buteos including Broad-winged hawk, Swainson’s hawk, Ferruginous hawk, Rough-legged hawk and Red-tailed Hawk. Other raptors we see include Golden and Bald Eagles, Northern harrier, Osprey, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, Cooper's and Sharp-shinned Hawks, American Kestrels, Merlin, and Turkey Vultures. American Goshawk is uncommon but also counted each season. Non-raptor species include Rock Wren, Bushtit, Western Bluebird, Sandhill Crane, White-throated Swift, American White Pelican, and Dusky Grouse. Birders of any skill level are always welcome. The hawk watch at Dinosaur Ridge is staffed by a Hawk Counter and volunteers from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM from March 1st to May 10th, weather permitting. 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 hawk watch signs from the southwest end of the parking lot to the hawk watch 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, and walk to the flat area at the crest of the ridge. (Distance: 0.56 miles, Elevation gain: 259 feet) -- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To post to this group, send email to cobirds@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cobirds * All posts should be signed with the poster's full name and city. Include bird species and location in the subject line when appropriate. * Join Colorado Field Ornithologists https://cobirds.org/membership/ --- 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/0101018e3082789c-b50ac5d1-11fe-442e-8261-97c587723dda-000000%40us-west-2.amazonses.com.