Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Mar 08, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
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 0 0 0 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 0 Red-tailed Hawk 3 17 17 Rough-legged Hawk 0 1 1 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 0 Ferruginous Hawk 0 4 4 Golden Eagle 0 0 0 American Kestrel 0 0 0 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 0 Prairie Falcon 0 5 5 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 1 1 1 Unknown Buteo 1 1 1 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 0 0 Unknown Raptor 0 0 0 Total: 6 43 43 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:45:00 Observation end time: 15:00:00 Total observation time: 6.25 hours Official Counter: Cynthia Madsen Observers: Dave Hill, Ernie Stone, Fran Haas Visitors: Jerry Stone, husband of observer, Ernie Stone, assisted us with our observations from 9:30 until noon. Mary Cay Berger arrived at 10:45 and helped us until the end. We so appreciate the extra eyes on the skies! We saw 11 hikers, 4 bikers, and 3 runners. There may have been more, but sometimes things get busy. Weather: We were never less than 95% cloudy today. The starting temperature was 35 degrees warming to 42, but with the light winds (never more than 6 mph) mainly from the east, it felt pretty chilly on the east side of the ridge. Raptor Observations: We had six migrating raptors today with one being an unidentified accipiter which moved by too quickly for good looks and one unidentified buteo which we picked up north of the ridge, too far for positive identification. The other migrating hawks were 3 Red-tailed Hawks, two of which were over the west ridge and one very close to the ridge on the west side. We had one Bald Eagle migrant traveling over the west ridge. We saw 5 local Red-tailed Hawks at once, 3 working the area near the Alameda exit on C470 while 2 were perched on the closest power poles in Matthews/Winters Park. At one point we watched a courtship flight of 2 of these Red-tailed Hawks complete with legs down in front of Mount Morrison . We may have had more than one juvenile Golden Eagle, but we only saw one at a time...flying over Marston Reservoir, then over the west ridge, and finally in the Apex Houses area where it scared up a flock of about 80 American Crows. Non-raptor Observations: In the 9:00 hour there were 3 elk in the Mother Cabrini/ Bare Slope area. Other birds seen: Western Scrub-Jay (1), Black-billed Magpie (4), American Crow (80), Common Raven (4), Mountain Bluebird (60), Townsend's Solitaire (1), American Robin (2), Dark-eyed Junco (7). Predictions: If the weather predictions prove to be correct, it may not be conducive for hawks or hawk watchers tomorrow. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory (jeff.bi...@rmbo.org) Dinosaur Ridge information may be found at: http://www.rmbo.org/ 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 the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory from about 9 AM to around 4 PM from the first week of March to the first week of May. 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. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
