Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: May 04, 2016 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 12 101 Osprey 0 4 14 Bald Eagle 0 0 12 Northern Harrier 0 0 3 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 9 53 Cooper's Hawk 1 5 54 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 3 Red-tailed Hawk 0 4 254 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 7 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 2 Golden Eagle 0 0 2 American Kestrel 1 4 42 Merlin 0 0 0 Peregrine Falcon 0 0 10 Prairie Falcon 0 0 12 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 0 1 26 Unknown Buteo 0 0 17 Unknown Falcon 0 2 10 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 8 Total: 2 41 631 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:45:00 Observation end time: 13:15:00 Total observation time: 5.5 hours Official Counter: Gary Rossmiller Observers: Visitors: Just a few hikers passing thru the site. Fairly light use of the trail today, evenly divided between hikers, runners, and cyclists. Weather: Almost cloudless, a few clouds developed to the west later in the day. Slight haze made following birds difficult. Breeze out of the east moving to the southeast in the afternoon. Calm at times, BF 2-3, with gusts up to BF 5. Temps from 14.3 C to 21.1 C, dropping barometer from 30.18 down to 30.12. A very clear, nice, and warm spring day. Raptor Observations: A Cooper's went by before 8 am MST just to the east, made a couple of soaring circles and took off in a long glide to the north. An American Kestrel was flapping north past the power lines shortly after that. A couple of local RT's to the west, and a very nice view of a RT in a fast glide on the east side and very low heading south. 3 local TV's worked the ridge repeatedly mid-morning, one of them roosting on the power pole. Non-raptor Observations: Spotted Towhee and Western Scrub Jay were very near the site most of the day. Western Bluebird on the east side. Meadowlarks on both sides of the ridge. Magpies, Crows, Ravens. A couple of dozen White Throated Swifts went over mid-morning. 7 deer near the trail on the way up, 3 below to the east, 4 elk on Green Mtn. The lizards are out. A cottontail came over to the juniper. Otherwise, a very quiet day. Predictions: Seems like the raptors must be content with their current locations and won't be migrating in significant numbers. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Bird Conservancy of the Rockies (jeff.bi...@birdconservancy.org) Dinosaur Ridge information may be found at: http://www.birdconservancy.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 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/87f7797a5afbd7b1f7de7c97e6612d4f%40www.hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
