HawkQuest in Golden, Colorado

My husband and I met friends in Golden, Colorado the last Sunday in July to go out for brunch and stroll around the town.  It happened to be the last day of the Buffalo Bill Day celebration.  Buffalo Bill Days are Golden’s annual salute to William F. Cody, who is buried atop Lookout Mountain in Golden.  I blogged about his grave a few years ago on this post.  It is among the most visited tourist attractions in Colorado!

Buffalo Bill Days featured a western weekend filled with the “Best of the West” parade, mutton bustin’, firefighters’ pancake breakfast, car show, arts and crafts, live music, kids’ games, and more. The original event dates back to the 1940s as a trail ride up to Buffalo Bill’s gravesite and now is an annual event.

In summer, as one drives into Golden's main street, a familiar sight to see is people carrying floatation tubes of all colors and shapes.

They are all headed to Clear Creek, which runs through the middle of Golden to float down a portion of the creek.  We like to stand on the bridge and watch them all float by or walk on a trail that runs alongside the creek to do the same

A short YouTube of some tubers floating down Clear Creek.

After brunch, we all went over to Parfet Park in town to visit the Arts and Crafts market vendors that were there for the Buffalo Days celebration.

In addition to the Arts and Crafts vendors' booth, the park had a stage where different groups performed all weekend, there were rides for children, the local Coors factory had a beer garden set up, and food vendors were available.

My favorite booth on display for Buffalo Bill Days, however, was this educational display and program for HawkQuest.  

HawkQuest is a Colorado nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)3 charitable organization. HawkQuest's approach is for education in classrooms and lecture halls, and is participatory, allowing the audience to experience HawkQuest's eagles, owls, falcons, and hawks at close range. The raptors in their care were injured and unable to be released back into the wild, or they were given up from private owners and sanctuaries.

HawkQuest has thirty-five different raptors, representing twenty-one different species. They had four raptors on display in their booth and gave explanations about each of them, as well as their mission statement and requests for donations, along with merchandise for sale. After seeing the program we were happy to make a donation!

These were the four raptors that Hawk Quest had on display at the celebration. The descriptions I've included under each photo are from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website.

American Kestral

"Petite falcon roughly the same size as Mourning Dove, but with a larger head and wider tail. In flight, note long, narrow wings and square-tipped tail. Often seen perched on telephone wires, along roadsides, in open country with short vegetation and few trees. From a perch or hovering, they usually drop to the ground to snatch small mammals and insects. Nests in cavities. Widespread across the Americas."

Barn Owl

"Medium-sized owl with a heart-shaped facial disc and deep dark eyes; the only Tyto owl present throughout much of its range. Varies across a wide global range, but always note white-and-black speckling on the upper parts, beautiful gray-and-tawny wings, and a large round head. The color of the facial disc and underparts varies from pure white to rusty orange. Hunts primarily rodents in open areas by night, foraging with a slow and buoyant flight. Roosts in old buildings, tree hollows, caves, and nest boxes by day. Its call is a bone-chilling, rising shriek."

 Harris Hawk

"Dark hawk found in deserts and scrubby open woodland. Brown overall with bright rufous shoulders and thighs. Tail black with white tip and white base. Immatures have variable white markings on the underparts. Unique among raptors for its social behavior; nests and hunts in groups. Feeds on mammals."

Bald Eagle

"Majestic adults have a blackish-brown body with white head and tail. Several stages of immature plumages aren't quite as majestic, from fully dark brown to messy and mottled with large patches of white. Look especially for white mottling on the belly of immatures. Scavenges and hunts near bodies of water. Soars with wings flat, like a large, dark plank. The Head appears large in flight; and projects far in front of the wings. Surprisingly weak-sounding vocalization is a series of high-pitched whistles.

The bald eagle was the star of the show!  

She was a rescue from Alaska and had an injured wing that had healed but prevented her from flying well enough to hunt.  During most of the lecture she was wearing a hood, but her handler took it off and allowed her to stretch her wings for the audience. 

The bald eagle is Alaska’s largest resident bird of prey with a wing span of up to 7.5 feet (2.3 m) and weight between 8 to 14 pounds (3.6 – 6.4 kg). Found only in North America, bald eagles are more abundant in Alaska than anywhere else in the United States. The Alaska population is estimated at 30,000 birds. 

We were really impressed by HawkQuest and their effort to care for these raptors and lead educational programs about them.  If you'd like to help their educational mission you can go to their "How to Help" page on their website or visit their online gift shop which contains books, apparel, hats, notecards, etc.  They also have a Facebook Page.  If you love birds and raptors they are a wonderful organization to support!

You can also find me on

Instagram Twitter Facebook 

Pinterest