Beaver Mines and Steeples, March 30

Monday, March 30 Beaver Mines [Day 35] 0650-2020 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson). The temperature was 0C at 0650, fell to -1C at 0800 and -3C at 0900 and 1000; it was then variably -1C or -2 C to 1900 and was again 0C at 2000 and 2020. From 0650 to 0825 it was completely clear with a SW wind of 20-30 km/h and cloud cover of 20-30 % altostratus, altocumulus and cumulus. At 0720 an adult female light grey morph Gyrfalcon flew high and steadily overhead towards the NNW: a good start to the day! At 0820, however, a light fog developed on the floor of the valley and by 0825 a thick wall of fog had advanced from the ENE and completely obscured everything. This persisted to 1500 and was joined after 1200 by steady snow. At 0930 an adult female Sharp-shinned Hawk perched briefly before flying low to the north. Between 1720 and 1800 the ridge cleared but no migrants were seen and it again cleared at 1830 and at 1846 4 Golden Eagles were seen gliding high together from the SE: as they began to cross the valley towards to NW the snow returned and they were not seen again. Heavy to moderate snow then fell to 2015 when, almost mockingly, the ridge cleared again just before nightfall when there was 10 cm of fresh snow on the ground. No observation was possible at Mount Lorette as snow fell all day and obscured all ridges.  Other birds seen at Beaver Mines were 17 Canada Geese, 14 Mallards, 1 Eurasian Collared Dove, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 male Red-shafted Flicker, 3 Blue Jays, 7  American Crows, 3 Common Ravens, 4 Black-capped Chickadees, 4 Mountain Chickadees, 2 American Robins, 10 European Starlings, 9 Evening Grosbeaks, 19 Pine Grosbeaks and 37 Dark-eyed Juncos (2 cismontanus and 35 montanus).

13.5 hours (411.7) SSHA 1 (17), GOEA 4 (891), GYRF 1 (2) TOTAL 6 (1268)

Monday, March 30 Steeples (Vance Mattson). No observation possible. It was overcast with rain for most of the day. The ridges slightly cleared at 1630 but were obscured again by 1700, and there was moderate clearing of the cloud by 1800 but the ridges remained mainly obscured.