Vicki Ridge September 20

MOUNT LORETTE, BEAVER MINES and STEEPLES RAPTOR COUNTS

FALL 2019

www.eaglewatch.ca

PETER SHERRINGTON

Introduction This is the 28^th consecutive year that RMERF has conducted at least one fall count in the Front Ranges of the Alberta Rocky Mountains. In 1992 an extensive reconnaissance count of 33 days was made at Mount Lorette that produced 2661 migrant raptors of which 2044 were Golden Eagles and demonstrated that the Alberta Front Ranges were a significant flyway for the species. Between 1993 and 2005 full-season counts of 75-101 days were conducted there with the exceptions of 1997 when a full count was conducted at Plateau Mountain about 90 km to the SSE and 2002 when circumstances limited observations at Mount Lorette to only 14 days.

From 2006 to 2009 the principal observation site moved to the Piitaistakis-South Livingstone ridge, which is the southern culmination of the Alberta Front Ranges, near the Crowsnest Pass during which time daily comparative counts of between 40 and 45 days were conducted at Mount Lorette coinciding with the main movement of Golden Eagles. In 2010 Mount Lorette again became the principal observation site with counts conducted over a standard period of September 20 to November 15. This season observers at Mount Lorette will be posting their daily results directly to the RMERF website at www.eaglewatch.ca. This blog will therefore only cover the Vicki Ridge and Steeples sites although I will endeavour to keep the Lorette numbers in the summary chart at the end of the blog up to date.

Fall counts have been conducted on Vicki Ridge since 2017 and this season will be the third consecutive complete (September 20 to November 17) count at the site which is located 4.5 km WNW of the Hamlet of Beaver Mines in SW Alberta.

Vance Mattson will again be watching at his Steeples site for the 11^th consecutive year since 2009. This site is located on the east side of the Kootenay Valley (Rocky Mountain Trench) 36 km NE of Cranbrook, British Columbia.  Information on all the RMERF sites and reports of previous years’ spring and fall counts may be found on our website www.eaglewatch.ca.

Friday, September 20 Vicki Ridge [Day 1] 0745-1630 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson observing from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge, Doug and Teresa Dolmen on the ridge top 1010-1540 and Raymond Toal walking the western edge of the ridge system 1300-1430.  The temperature at 0745 was 8C, the high was 16C at 1500 and it was 11C at 1630 when the count was ended because of rain. Winds were WNW-W 10-20 gusting 30 km/h to 1300 after which they were generally light and variable with a light northerly upper flow. Cloud cover was 70-100% altostratus, cirrostratus, cirrus and altocumulus to 1200 when cumulus cloud began to develop which became 90-100% dark cumulus and stratocumulus for the rest of the day. Light rain began to fall at 1530 and became persistent after 1600. There was a fairly strong and varied raptor movement of 69 birds of 10 species between 0905 and 1520 that comprised 1 Osprey, 3 juvenile Northern Harriers (1 male, 1 female and 1u), 25 Sharp-shinned Hawks (6a, 2j, 17u), 9 Cooper’s Hawks (3a, 2j, 4u), 1 juvenile Northern Goshawk, 1 unidentified small Accipiter, 10 calurus Red-tailed Hawks (6 light: 4a, 2j and 4 dark: 3a, 1j), 1 juvenile light morph Ferruginous Hawk, 2 unidentified dark morph Buteos, 10 Golden Eagles (5a, 4sa, 1j), 5 American Kestrels (1 male, 3 females and 1u) and 1 Prairie Falcon. Forty-one birds moved before 1200 with a high hourly count of 23 between 1100 and 1200. All birds were seen from the wellsite with the exception of a single juvenile Northern Harrier seen from the ridge top and single Sharp-shinned Hawk and American Kestrel on the western edge of Kyllo Ridge. Other bird species seen on the ridge top and from the wellsite were 45 Canada Geese, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 2 Northern Flickers, 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 1 Canada Jay, 26 Clark’s Nutcrackers, 6 Black-billed Magpies, 40 Common Ravens, 1 Black-capped Chickadee, 4 Mountain Chickadees, 4 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 1 Golden-crowned Kinglet, 29 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 43 Mountain Bluebirds, 1 Townsend’s Solitaire, 87 American Robins, 40 European Starlings, 82 Cedar Waxwings, 3 Cassin’s Finches, 103 Pine Siskins, 1 White-crowned Sparrow, 7 Dark-eyed Juncos and 38 Yellow-rumped Warblers.

9.25 hours OSPR 1, NOHA 3, SSHA 25, COHA 9, NOGO 1, UA 1, RTHA 10, FEHA 1, UB 2, GOEA 10, AMKE 5, PRFA 1 TOTAL 69

Friday, September 20 Steeples (Vance Mattson).  No report received.