Dinosaur Ridge Colorado, USA Daily Raptor Counts: May 05, 2013 -------------------------------------------------------------------
Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 0 11 167 Osprey 0 2 24 Bald Eagle 1 1 30 Northern Harrier 0 2 8 Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 11 108 Cooper's Hawk 4 13 123 Northern Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 0 0 0 Broad-winged Hawk 4 6 39 Red-tailed Hawk 1 9 240 Rough-legged Hawk 0 0 6 Swainson's Hawk 0 1 7 Ferruginous Hawk 0 0 9 Golden Eagle 0 1 11 American Kestrel 1 8 159 Merlin 0 3 6 Peregrine Falcon 0 1 15 Prairie Falcon 0 0 17 Mississippi Kite 0 0 0 Unknown Accipiter 3 4 49 Unknown Buteo 0 1 34 Unknown Falcon 0 0 7 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 16 Total: 14 74 1076 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 07:30:00 Observation end time: 14:00:00 Total observation time: 6.5 hours Official Counter: Joyce Commercon Observers: Cyndy Johnson Visitors: Some visitors came for the view despite the overcast, chilly day and muddy-in-places trail. One inquired about the rarest bird seen lately; one wished us luck raptor-spotting. One man stayed for a while to learn more about HawkWatch and spoke of the Bald Eagles he had seen at Cherry Creek State Park. Weather: The day was overcast with 100% cloud cover, although the sun occasionally shone dimly through the thinner clouds. Temperatures ranged from about 7 C to 11 C. Eastern winds were fairly mild, shifting more to the NorthEast by mid-afternoon. Visibility was good. Raptor Observations: The observed migrants followed no predominant flight path along or to either side of the Ridge. There was no obvious trend in height-of-flight. Half of the migrants were accipiters; the overcast lighting seemed to strip them of their color making them difficult to age. Migrant highlights of the day included seeing a fairly ragged, immature Bald Eagle and a juvenile Broad-winged Hawk. A local Prairie Falcon glided South overtop of the HawkWatch site in the morning giving us a good view, and a local adult Turkey Vulture came close enough in the afternoon that its reddish head and its mottled dark brown back were easily visible to the naked eye. Non-raptor Observations: One Sandhill Crane circled at the top of Mount Morrison for a while before heading South. A flock of six Blue Jays flew North over the HawkWatch site heading North in the morning. Not long afterwards, thirty-plus Bushtits swept over the Ridge heading East. Also seen or heard were Western Meadowlark, Western Scrub-Jay, Spotted Towhee, Black-billed Magpie, Broad-tailed Hummingbird, White-throated Swift, Common Raven, Mountain Chickadee, Say's Phoebe, Yellow-rumped Warbler (some were Audubon's), American Robin and Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Approximately forty elk were seen near Bare Slope. There was plenty of noise during the day both from the shooting range and an event taking place at the Thunder Valley Motocross. ======================================================================== 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.
