Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Apr 25, 2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 1 99 100 Osprey 0 21 21 Bald Eagle 0 6 18 Northern Harrier 0 6 7 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 41 50 Cooper's Hawk 2 76 82 Northern Goshawk 0 2 2 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 1 8 8 Red-tailed Hawk 2 210 303 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 0 Swainson's Hawk 0 9 9 Ferruginous Hawk 0 6 10 Golden Eagle 0 6 9 American Kestrel 0 47 52 Merlin 0 1 1 Peregrine Falcon 0 4 4 Prairie Falcon 0 4 4 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 2 11 14 Unknown Buteo 0 4 9 Unknown Falcon 0 0 0 Unknown Eagle 0 1 3 Unknown Raptor 1 9 12 Total: 9 571 718 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 08:00:00 Observation end time: 12:30:00 Total observation time: 4.5 hours Official Counter: Roger Rouch Observers: Visitors: Seasoned raptor observers Jim Banks and Brigette Forsmark helped spot and identify for about an hour in the morning and were great help. Weather: Mostly cloudy to start, but becoming sunny by late morning with a featureless blue sky except a few clouds along the west horizons. Temperatures mostly in the low 60's with a mild breeze around 2 Bft. from the east and south east. Raptor Observations: A Broad-winged was sighted in the morning below eye level and rose to migrate north over Hwy. 93. And a Turkey Vulture bee lining north high overhead. The remainder of the count was over the west ridge, sometimes at the very limit of binoculars. Six, eight, or more Turkey Vultures took lazy low circles around Cabrini for about an hour in the late morning, some going north and then some south, but none seemed like they were on a dedicated north path and all were considered local. Also local Red-tailed Hawks along the west ridge and a few local vultures cruising the ridge. Non-raptor Observations: An Excel crew worked on top of the power poles behind the platform to repair the broken colored warning balls attached to the power line. A couple dozen song birds came by going north in two's and three's. Those that could be identified were Yellow-rumped Warblers. White-throated Swift could be seen most of the warm part of the day in small groups. Also seen or heard, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, Blue Jay, Common Raven, Woodhouse's Scrub-jay, Western Meadowlark, Black-billed Magpie, American Robin, Spotted Towhee. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Matthew Smith (matt.sm...@birdconservancy.org) Dinosaur Ridge - Bird Conservancy of the Rockies information may be found at: http://www.birdconservancy.org/ More site information at hawkcount.org: http://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=123 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/8cac900ff137af89459ab4a356a5348e%40hawkcount.org. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
