Dinosaur Ridge Hawkwatch Day

My Dad and I went to the Dinosaur Ridge Hawkwatch near Morrison, Colorado yesterday, Wednesday, March 26. I had been a couple of times in the past, but many years ago, including once with a full class of kids, and I don’t remember much except that one guy up there was arrogant and would just call out the birds with very little information on where he was seeing them or how he was identifying them. It was a gorgeous day and much more-low key than my past experience/memory. There were four guys there at 9:30, with only 5 birds counted so far. There was sporadic activity, usually over the west ridge, but we really only saw a Red-tail and a Bald Eagle that were deemed migrants (based on flight style and direction) and not just residents, of which we saw numerous RTs, a couple of eagles and a falcon harassing one of the eagles high in the sky. Dad and I thought we saw more raptors (mostly RTs and some Kestrels) on the way down and again on the way home than we did at the site.
Here is the link to the daily Dinosaur Ridge report from the lead volunteer on hand (includes season total also):  https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/cobirds/J9Nqr4vsaEM/_vos3kiv8pkJ

Our best sighting of the day was probably the falcon we I spied cruising the ridge right outside of Morrison. It perched on a snag at the top of the ridge, but the light was behind it so we could not get an ID, even with the scope; both Prairie and Peregrine are residents of the area, and my gut was Prairie as it had fairly thin-looking wings and just didn’t appear that dark.

 On our way home we searched for a supposed Bald Eagle nest somewhere near 168th and York (according to one of the guys on the Ridge), but we never saw it. We did find two RT nests near Holly, one east on North side of 168th, and another west of Holly on the south side. We also checked out the RT nest in Erie just west of County Line Road at Evans in Erie and then my GHO nest off Rothman Open Space (I will update notes on this nest in the box at left). As I left my parents’ house there was a probable eagle soaring high above Waneka Lake.

Then, when I set out for my afternoon walk with the dogs, I saw two raptors flying in the wind at a distance that kind of looked like Swainson’s (thinner wings, flight style and glimpse of possible two-tone underwings), but it was difficult to see with naked eye and they were gone fast.