What an incredible experience to witness the raptor migration today! Great that you caught it too, Christian. I was wondering if the dark clouds down by NCAR had, as you put it, “shut off the tap.” Over by Mt Sanitas the flow dramatically lessened about 2:15, with a few stragglers until about 2:45.
The Broad-winged Hawks came mostly in groups of 3 or 4, often rising along with T Vultures in a thermal somewhere near the mouths of Boulder and Sunshine Canyons. Thought I had a dark morph as well, but will need to check photos. The big sudden rush occurred from about 1:30-2:00, punctuated by the quick flyover of 7 Thunderbirds. I didn’t have quite as high tallies and # of species here, but likely missed many individuals flying out of view just west off the Dakota Ridge. Here’s a rough list: 2 Golden Eagles 3 American Kestrels 1 Prairie Falcon 1 Peregrine Falcon 7 Osprey 20-25 Broad-winged Hawks 10-15 Red-tailed Hawks 31 Turkey Vultures 5 Sharp-shinned Hawks 9 Cooper’s Hawks Possible Swainson’s Hawk 75-100 White-throated Swift A few years ago, when hiking Mt Sanitas with my brother Christof, we happened to witness an impressive raptor migration, though not nearly as thrilling as today’s. It was a bit earlier in the season, followed several days of wet/snowy weather, and had a similarly patchy-to-overcast cloud cover. It seemed, like today, the raptors sensed the window of opportunity and high-tailed it north. Still have a few Cassin’s Finches hanging around after the storm, now present for seven days straight, which is definitely unusual. Hope those north of Boulder get to enjoy the raptors! Thomas Heinrich Boulder, CO nyc...@aol.com > On Apr 18, 2020, at 2:51 PM, Christian Nunes <pajaro...@hotmail.com> wrote: > > They’re on their way, Arvind! A snow squall has rolled in and shut off the > tap down here. I’m pretty happy with my tally of 53 BWHA, including crushing > looks at 3 dark-morphs. > > Christian > > On Apr 18, 2020, at 2:45 PM, arvind panjabi <apanj...@yahoo.com> wrote: > >> Out on my deck here in the Larimer county foothills...looking and waiting. >> I’m three hog backs in from the edge. Will post if I see anything. Had a >> sharpie this morning, goshawk two days ago. >> >> >> Arvind Panjabi >> >> >> Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone >> >> On Saturday, April 18, 2020, 2:21 PM, Christian Nunes >> <pajaro...@hotmail.com> wrote: >> >> There is a once in a lifetime movement of migrating raptors along the >> Boulder Foothills today. A major pulse started at 1:45. Single flock of 28 >> Broadwings the highlight so far. No dark-morphs yet, but one’s bound to >> pass.<image1.png> >> >> Christian Nunes >> Boulder >> Currently at the mouth of Shadow Canyon having a ball. >> >> On Apr 18, 2020, at 11:25 AM, Thomas Heinrich <teheinr...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >>> Seems a good day for raptor migration: >>> Just had an Osprey, 3 Broad-winged Hawks, and group of 6 Turkey Vultures >>> over my house below Mt Sanitas in Boulder. Also have had two Red-tailed >>> Hawks, several Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned, and a falcon sp. A flock of 12 >>> White-throated Swifts was over the Newlands neighborhood. >>> >>> >>> Thomas Heinrich >>> Boulder, CO >>> nyc...@aol.com >>> >>> -- >>> 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/CFAFF66F-2333-4D83-8371-7CD9C98F8550%40gmail.com. >> >> -- >> 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/CY4PR01MB27431EC3280B7690A6A00530BCD60%40CY4PR01MB2743.prod.exchangelabs.com. >> <image1.png> -- 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/321A9E25-E125-4233-8D5A-E68A8716223C%40gmail.com.
