RMERF counts, March 19

Tuesday, March 19 Mount Lorette [Day 17] 0755-1945 (Blake Weis, assisted by Katherine Peterson). The temperature at 0800 was -7C, but reached a season-high 15C at 1700 and 1800 and was still 7C at the end of observation. Ground winds were SW all day, 0-5 km/h that gusting to 10 km/h between 1200 and 1800, while ridge winds were light SW to 1200 and light to moderate in the afternoon. There was cirrus cloud cover all day, 40% to 1000 that diminished to 10% at 1000 before gradually increasing to 80% at 1500 and again diminishing to 20% at the end of the day. A season-high total of 60 migrants were counted between 1020 and 1802 that comprised a season-high 8 Bald Eagles (6a, 2sa), 1 light morph Rough-legged Hawk, a season-high 49 Golden Eagles (40a, 9u), the first Prairie Falcon of the season and 1 unidentified distant raptor that was probably either a Northern Goshawk or a Gyrfalcon. The first Golden Eagle was not seen until after 1300 but movement was then steady and peaked at 15 birds between 1500 and 1600. Up to 1700 migration was mainly on the western route with birds moving from the southern flank of Mount Allan to Hummingbird Plume Hill and then to the NW over Skogan Pass, but after 1700 birds moved from the northern end of the Fisher Range to Mount Lorette with much extended soaring and flapping in the light winds. A single resident adult Golden Eagle soared on the north ridge of Mount Lorette at 0925. There were no new spring arrivals, probably because the Hay Meadow is still completely snow covered, but other birds seen were 2 Pileated Woodpeckers, one of which flew very high to the north from the south flank of Mount Allan, 2 Canada Jays, 10 Common Ravens, 4 Black-capped Chickadees, 5 Mountain Chickadees, 2 Boreal Chickadees, 3 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 7 Common Redpolls, 4 White-winged Crossbills and 1 Pine Siskin. There were 5 visitors at the site today.

11.83 hours (175.4) BAEA 8 (27), RLHA 1 (2), GOEA 49 (194), PRFA 1 (1), UU 1(1) TOTAL 60 (226)

Tuesday, March 19 Beaver Mines [Day 18] 0730-1930 (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Hilary Atkinson). The temperature at 0730 was 1C that reached a season-high 15C at 1500 and 1600, and was still 10C at 1930. Winds were WSW 15-20 km/h to 1030 when again they diminished to 0-5 km/h, mainly NE for the rest of the day. Cloud cover was 10% altostratus to 0830 and it was then cloudless all day with occasional ephemeral traces of altocumulus occasionally developing. The delightful weather again produced almost no migrants, however, with only 3 seen today: 1 adult Golden Eagle at 1352, 1 adult Bald Eagle at 1544 and 1 subadult Bald Eagle at 1659. The highlight of the day was our first American Robin at 0831 and other birds seen were 1 Canada Goose, 16 Wild turkeys, 1 Rock Pigeon, 3 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Northern Flicker, 7 Blue Jays, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 5 American Crows, 35 Common Ravens, 25 of which flew high to the SW between 1900 and 1921, 20 European Starlings, 10 Evening Grosbeaks and 7 Pine Siskins.

12 hours (201.8) BAEA 2 (65), GOEA 1 (104) TOTAL 3 (182)

Tuesday, March 19 Steeples [Day 14] 1300-1900 (Vance Mattson). The weather was again warm with a temperature of 12C, calm conditions and cloudless skies that produced a season-high count of 42 eagles comprising a season-high total of 25 Bald Eagles (14a, 3sa, 8j) and 17 Golden Eagles (12a, 1sa, 3j). Movement was steady throughout the observation period with a maximum hourly count of 14 between 1500 and 1600. The resident Golden Eagle family was seen together with one adult bird displaying vigorously for the first time this year. The juvenile was seen on 3 occasions, once soaring at length with an adult, and again perched at length between 1540 and 1747. Two non-migrant adult Bald Eagles soared together before gliding south along the ridge.

6 hours (66.25) BAEA 25 (71), GOEA 17 (107) TOTAL 42 (180)