Dinosaur Ridge - Denver Field Ornithologists
Colorado, USA
Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 12, 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 14 14
Northern Harrier 0 0 0
Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 0 0
Cooper's Hawk 1 3 3
American Goshawk 0 0 0
Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0
Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0
Red-tailed Hawk 32 106 106
Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0
Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0
Ferruginous Hawk 4 8 8
Golden Eagle 1 4 4
American Kestrel 0 2 2
Merlin 0 0 0
Peregrine Falcon 0 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: 39 140 140
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Observation start time: 10:00:00
Observation end time: 18:00:00
Total observation time: 8 hours
Official Counter: Ajit Antony
Observers: Deborah Hebblewhite, Janet Peters, Liza Antony,
Natalie Uschner-Arroyo, Tierney Christiansen
Visitors:
18 visitors to the watch area.
We had the A-team of observers helping me – Liza all day, Natalie in the
morning and Janet in the afternoon – nor did they disappoint. Tierney
Christiansen helped in the morning. Pat Egan from Albany, NY who does bird
surveys for various companies and his friend Emily Quackenbush from
Colorado for a few morning hours. Deborah Hebblewhite a DFO member helped
in the afternoon, her 1st time up at the watch.
Weather:
The wind prediction from earth.nullschool.net was for mainly SW winds all
day, so I thought we might have a reasonably good count. Driving to the
watch, far away on I-70 all of the Front Range was in shade, and at the
watch there was a heavy very wide stratus cloud covering the whole area. My
comment was that this was a double-edged sword in that we could easier see
distant birds against the backdrop of the cloud, but it may also result in
a lack of thermals inhibiting any flight. By the 2nd hour the western edge
of the massive cloud cover gradually moved eastward and by 12:45 PM the sun
shone on us and the real flight of the day began, in spite of it clouding
up again as the watch went on.
Raptor Observations:
Migrants – Bald Eagle adult at 1:50 PM. Adult Golden Eagle at 2:55 PM. 3
of the 4 Ferruginous Hawk seemed to be "altitudinally challenged" but more
likely knew something we didn't, in that the 1st was seen initially south
of the Double Hump, flew in front of Mount Morrison and I could follow it
in my scope, and it stayed below the ridge all the way north. The 2nd was
seen just over the treetops just south of the parking lot of
Matthews-Winters Park, flew over I-70 and stayed low all the way North. The
3rd flew above the ridge, while the 4th one flew at moderate height past us
and then dropped just skimming the Apex Homes flying north, and this one
had very dark coverts but with a light breast and belly, and a dusky distal
tail --making it a moderately marked light morph immature.
Almost all the migrants were seen more to our West with the exception of 2
RT and 1 CH which were on the East.
Interestingly even at 5 PM the migrants were very high as they were all day
with most at the limit of binocular ID needing a scope.
I put up a GHOW decoy (which was very effective in NY) on a 12 foot pole
but did not attract any raptors. I've used it before with a shorter pole
with the same lack of effect. I have no explanation why Colorado is
different.
Non-migrant raptors: adult GE at 10:40 AM which initially seemed to be a
migrant, then flew West thanks to Liza watching for a very long time; adult
GE at 4:36 PM. RT 9.
Non-raptor Observations:
Common Raven 20, American Crow 5, Townsend's Solitaire 3, Black-billed
Magpie 1, many (presumably) migrating American Robin in flight.
Predictions:
A chance of rain/snow in the morning, rain likely in the afternoon. NNE
winds 5-13 mph with gusts to 21 mph with a 70% chance of precipitation.
========================================================================
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/0101018e360a54d2-7c2cd819-5f82-4ba1-8801-ab8dd4715c2f-000000%40us-west-2.amazonses.com.
