RMERF counts, November 15, with November and count summaries
Wednesday, November 15 [Day 51] (Joel Duncan, assisted by Rick Robb) 0800-1700. The temperature at 0800 was -2C, the high was 3C from 1200 to 1500 and it was 2C at 1700. Ground winds were SSW-S 5-10 gusting to 27 km/h to 1300 and then S-SW 8-18 gusting 22 km/h for the rest of the day, and ridge winds were SW all day, moderate to 1100 and strong thereafter. Cloud cover was initially 20% cumulus and cirrostratus that gradually increased to 90-100% after 1400. The western ridges started to cloud over at 1300 and were 80% obscured by 1700, and the east was 20% obscured after 1600. Light snow fell at 1500 and 1600. The only raptors seen were 2 adult Golden Eagles that flew high above the northern end of the Fisher Range at 1517. Other birds of note were 2 Bohemian Waxwings, 1 Dark-eyed Junco of the race cismontanus, 4 Pine Grosbeaks, 1 Red Crossbill and 2 Common Redpolls. Three visitors were at the site on the final day of the fall 2017 count.
9 hours (532.7) GOEA 2 (3233) TOTAL 2 (3672)
Mount Lorette November summary (November 1-15), with variances to 1993-2016 averages (excluding 1997, 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008) 12 days (-16.0%), 106.4 hours (-18.2%), Turkey Vulture 0, Osprey 0, Bald Eagle 36 (-53.2%), Northern Harrier 0, Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 (-55.0%), Cooper’s Hawk 0, Northern Goshawk 3 (-53.4%), UA 0, Broad-winged Hawk 0, Swainson’s Hawk 0, Red-tailed Hawk 0, Ferruginous Hawk 0, Rough-legged Hawk 2 (-68.4%), UB 0, Golden Eagle 61 (-74.3%), UE 2 (+100%), American Kestrel 0, Merlin 0, Gyrfalcon 0, Peregrine Falcon 0, Prairie Falcon 0, UF 0, UU 0 TOTAL 105 (-68.7%). The Golden Eagle and combined species counts are the second lowest ever for November, and the Bald Eagle count equals the second lowest ever.
Vicki Ridge [Day 52] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Gord Petersen) 0800-1715 (Observation from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge). The starting temperature at 0800 was -4C, the high at 1300 was 3C and it was 0C at 1715. Winds were variable and light to 1400 when they became WSW-W 20-30 gusting to 45 km/h for the rest of the day. Cloud cover was 100% altostratus to 1000 when it began to thin and was 0-10% cumulus and lenticular at 1300-1500 after which cloud spread from the west that reached 100% cirrostratus, altostratus and cumulus at the end of observation. The first migrant was not seen until 1007 and because of the light winds only 8 birds had been recorded by 1400. As the wind velocity increased so did the number of migrant raptors and the next three hours produced 8, 13 and 12 migrants respectively with the last bird of the season, an unidentified eagle, flying south at 1651. The final count of 41 birds of 3 species was 29 Bald Eagles (12a, 2sa, 1j/sa transition, 5j, 8u), 4 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, 7 Golden Eagles (5a, 2j) and 1 unidentified eagle. Non-migrant adult Northern Goshawks were seen hunting on three occasions. Other birds seen were 2 Grey Jays, 2 Clark’s Nutcrackers, 5 Black-billed Magpies, 12 Bohemian Waxwings, 14 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches, 1 Pine Grosbeak and 2 Common Redpolls.
9.25 hours (418.9) BAEA 29 (350), RLHA 4 (515), GOEA 7 (2001), UE 1 (18) TOTAL 41 (4239)
Vicki Ridge November Summary (November 1-15), with 2016 totals in parenthesis. 12 days, (15 days), 86.1 hours (110.4 hours) Turkey Vulture 0 (0), Osprey 0 (1), Bald Eagle 153 (156), Northern Harrier 0 (4), Sharp-shinned Hawk 1 (23), Cooper’s Hawk 0 (0), Northern Goshawk 11 (25), UA 0 (2), Broad-winged Hawk 0 (0), Swainson’s Hawk 0 (0), Red-tailed Hawk 0 (11), Ferruginous Hawk 0 (0), Rough-legged Hawk 28 (105), UB 1 (0), Golden Eagle 195 (445), UE 4 (4), American Kestrel 0 (1), Merlin 0 (3), Gyrfalcon 2 (1), Peregrine Falcon 0 (2), Prairie Falcon 1 (1), UF 0 (1), UU 0 (0) TOTAL 396 (785)
Vicki Ridge Final Count Summary (September 20-November 15), with 2016 totals in parenthesis. 52 days (43 days), 418.9 hours, (282.6 hours) Turkey Vulture 0 (1), Osprey 11 (3), Bald Eagle 350 (253), Northern Harrier 19 (16), Sharp-shinned Hawk 751 (521), Cooper’s Hawk 94 (49), Northern Goshawk 109 (77), UA 6 (6), Broad-winged Hawk 33 (7), Swainson’s Hawk 1 (0), Red-tailed Hawk 234 (117), Ferruginous Hawk 6 (3) , Rough-legged Hawk 515 (313), UB 19 (4), Golden Eagle 2001 (1424), UE 18 (15), American Kestrel 21 (17), Merlin 20 (22), Gyrfalcon 5 (1), Peregrine Falcon 17 (13), Prairie Falcon 5 (5) , UF 2 (1) TOTAL 4237 (2868)
Steeples (Vance Mattson) NO OBSERVATION Vance had a full day of teaching today so had no chance to get out, although it was overcast and rained through the afternoon
Steeples November Summary (November 1-15), with 2016 totals in parenthesis. 9 days (12 days), 37 hours (47.75 hours), Turkey Vulture 0 (0), Osprey 1 (1), Bald Eagle 67 (48) , Northern Harrier 3 (1), Sharp-shinned Hawk 0 (1), Cooper’s Hawk 0 (0), Northern Goshawk 1 (1), UA 0 (0) , Broad-winged Hawk 0 (0), Swainson’s Hawk 0 (0), Red-tailed Hawk 1 (5) , Ferruginous Hawk 0 (0), Rough-legged Hawk 5 (1) , UB 0 (0), Golden Eagle 36 (25), UE 2 (4), American Kestrel 0 (0), Merlin 0 (0), Gyrfalcon 0 (0), Peregrine Falcon 0 (0), Prairie Falcon 0 (0), UF 0 (0) TOTAL 116 (83)
Steeples Final Count Summary (September 20-November 15), with 2016 totals in parenthesis. 41 days (37 days), 185.0 hours (161.75 hours) Turkey Vulture 1 (1) , Osprey 7 (7) , Bald Eagle 276 (222), Northern Harrier 16 (8), Sharp-shinned Hawk 78 (103), Cooper’s Hawk 1 (2), Northern Goshawk 13 (9), UA 0 (0), Broad-winged Hawk 5 (0), Swainson’s Hawk 0 (0), Red-tailed Hawk 51 (49) , Ferruginous Hawk 0 0), Rough-legged Hawk 15 (11), UB 1 (0), Golden Eagle 146 (206), UE 3 (15), American Kestrel 8 (6), Merlin 2 (2), Gyrfalcon 0 (0), Peregrine Falcon 2 (2), Prairie Falcon 0 (1), UF 0 (0) TOTAL 625 (629). The combined-species count is the second highest fall total, new seasonal high counts were established for Bald Eagle, Northern Harrier, Northern Goshawk, Broad-winged Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Rough-legged Hawk and American Kestrel, while Osprey, Merlin and Peregrine Falcon equaled previous seasonal high counts.
MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (September 20 to November 15) (with percentage variances from the long-term averages for the period 1993-1996, 1998-2001, 2003-2005 and 2009-2016)
DAYS 51 (-6.6%)
HOURS 532.7 (-5.4%)
TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0 (-100%)
OSPREY (OSPR) 2 (-26.9%)
BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 190 (-20.6%)
NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 6 (-43%)
SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 82 (-40.4%)
COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 18 (-20.6%)
NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 30 (-32.4%)
Accipiter sp. (UA) 3 (-56.5%)
BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 1 (-84%)
SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0 (-100%)
RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 29 (-13.5%)
FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 1 (+171.4%)
ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 29 (-43.9%)
Buteo sp. (UB) 10 (+187.9%)
GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 3233 (-6.0%)
Eagle sp. (UE) 8 (+120.3%)
AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 3 (+18.8%)
MERLIN (MERL) 5 (-35.8%)
GYRFALCON (GYRF) 4 (+43.4%)
PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 7 (+17.7%)
PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 6 (+200%)
Falco sp. (UF) 3 (+103.6%)
Unidentified Raptor (UU) 2 (-50.6%)
TOTAL 3672 (-8.9%)
