Mount Lorette and Beaver Mines, April 4

April 4 [Day 34] (Brian McBride, assisted by Fred Bowen) 0715-1930. Clear skies allowed the temperature to fall to -8C at 0715, but it rose to a high of 8C at 1700 and was 4C at 1930. Ground winds were mainly light S except between 1200 and 1800 when they were 10-20 km/h, while ridge winds were SW all day, moderate to strong between 1000 and 1400 and otherwise moderate. It was cloudless to 1400 when thin cirrostratus began to develop reaching 80% at 1600 that persisted for the rest of the day. The ridges were clear and observing condition were good when cloud developed in the afternoon but not a single migrant raptor was seen all day. Resident birds were 1 subadult Bald eagle, 1 adult Northern Goshawk and 1 perched light adult Red-tailed Hawk. Other birds present included 1 drumming Ruffed Grouse, 1 Northern [Yellow-shafted] Flicker, 7 Mountain Bluebirds (5m, 2f), 3 American Robins and 30 Dark-eyed Juncos. Two Coyotes spooked a herd of 5 White-tailed Deer in the meadow but did not pursue them. Six visitors helped in the fruitless task of scanning the ridges for migrants.

12.25 hours (377.3) TOTAL 0 (2301)

Beaver Mines [Day 38] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Hilary Atkinson) 0900-1900. The temperature was 3C at 0900, rose to a high of 8C at 1200 and again at 1700 and was 6C when observation ceased at 1900. Winds were W-WSW all day 25-35 gusting 50 km/h that diminished to 20-25 km/h for the last two hours. Skies were cloudless to 1400 when thin cirrostratus developed and cloud cover was then 80-100% cirrostratus and altostratus for the rest of the day that gave excellent viewing conditions. After 3 days of limited raptor movement it appeared that the trend would continue today as the first migrant was not seen until 1216 and by 1500 only 4 more birds had been recorded. After 1500, however, movement became steady and by 1830 29 migrants of 7 species had moved high to the NW. The flight was 6 Bald Eagles (5a, 1sa), 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1a, 2u), 1 adult light morph Broad-winged Hawk, 10 light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawks (8a, 2u), 3 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, 5 Golden Eagles (4a, 1sa) and 1 adult male Peregrine Falcon.

10 hours (337.3) BAEA 6 (247), SSHA 3 (26), BWHA 1 (4), RTHA 10 (114), RLHA 3 (57), GOEA 5 (969), PEFA 1 (2) TOTAL 29 (1524)

Steeples (Vance Mattson) No observation

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

DAYS 34

HOURS 377.3

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 0

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 171

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 1

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 3

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 0

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 13

Accipiter sp. (UA) 0

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 3

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 19

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 21

Buteo sp. (UB) 3

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 2048

Eagle sp. (UE) 11

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 2

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 1

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 2

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 1

Falco sp. (UF) 1

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 1

TOTAL 2301