Beaver Mines and Steeples, March 16

Monday, March 16 Beaver Mines [Day 21] 0730-2000 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson). The temperature at 0730 was -12C, the high from 1400 to 1800 was 1C and it was  -3C at 2000. Winds were W-NW 10-18 km/h to 1400 after which they were variable and light (0-8 km/h) for the rest of the day. There was 40% stratus cloud cover at 0700 after which it was cloudless all day. The light winds again produced a very poor raptor movement with only 3 birds, 1 subadult Bald Eagle and 2 adult Golden Eagles recorded between 1702 and 1705. The birds soared high above the ridge before flapping to the NW. At the Frank Slide Interpretive Centre in the Crowsnest Pass, however, Trevor Lewis saw 32 eagles moving to the north along the Livingstone Ridge in 16 minutes around 1600 with the birds probably originating from the Carbondale Ridge to the west of the Beaver Mines site. A strong eagle movement also occurred at Mount Lorette where Blake Weis saw a season high 177 birds that comprised 5 Bald Eagles and 172 Golden Eagles. Other birds seen here were 8 Rock Pigeons, 1 Eurasian Collared Dove, 3 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 1 Northern Shrike, that was the first at the site this season, 1 Steller’s Jay, 4 Black-billed Magpies, 49 Common Ravens, 8 Black-capped Chickadees, 12 Mountain Chickadees, 2 Red-breasted Nuthatches, 1 White-breasted Nuthatch, 10 European Starlings, 6 Evening Grosbeaks, 25 Pine Grosbeaks, 1 American Tree Sparrow and 22 Dark-eyed Juncos (1 hyemalis, 1 cismontanus and 25 montanus). On March 15 Connie Simmons saw the area’s first Varied Thrush along the Gladstone Valley Road.

12.5 hours (228.5) BAEA 1 (105), GOEA 2 (274) TOTAL 3 (430)

Monday, March 16 Steeples [Day 12] 1530-1900 (Vance Mattson). The temperature was 4C and conditions were calm, cloudless and sunny which produced low gliding flight and offered excellent views of 21 migrants that comprised 2 Bald Eagles (1a, 1j), the season’s first migrant Red-tailed Hawk, an adult light morph of the race calurus that was the last bird seen at 1849, and a season-high 18 Golden Eagles (16a, 2j), the first of which was moving across the ridge as Vance arrived at the site. No resident birds were seen.

3.5 hours (38.25) BAEA 2 (20), RTHA 1 (1), GOEA 18 (75) TOTAL 21 (97)