Beaver Mines and Steeples, April 1
Wednesday, April 01 Beaver Mines [Day 37] 0700-2030 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson). The temperature at 0700 was -15C, the high from 1300 to 1500 was -12C and it was again -15C at 2030. Winds were ENE-NE all day 10-20 km/h with occasional gusts to 30 km/h. Cloud cover was 100% stratus with light snow to 1500 that largely obscured the ridge, but subsequently the ridge remained clear with 90-100% cumulus and altostratus cloud cover that produced only occasional flurries. There was 2 cm of fresh snow at 0700 and a further 1.5 cm fell during the day. A total of 17 raptors were seen between 0927 and 1755 that comprised 1 adult Bald Eagle, 1 adult male Northern Harrier, 4 adult Sharp-shinned Hawks, 1 adult light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk and 10 Golden Eagles (6a, 3sa, 1j). The Golden Eagles flew to the NNE between 1605 and 1755 when a brief snow flurry obscured the ridge-top for five minutes, but despite the ridge subsequently being completely clear for the rest of the day no further eagles were seen. Poor weather continued at Mount Lorette with low temperatures, snow and mainly obscured ridges. Graeme Dunlop reported 0 migrants in 7.5 hours of observation. Other birds seen at Beaver Mines were 12 Canada Geese, 3 American Wigeons, 8 Mallards, 1 Rock Pigeon, 1 Killdeer, 37 American Crows, 6 Common Ravens, 4 Black-capped Chickadees, 4 Mountain Chickadees, 6 European Starlings, 37 Evening Grosbeaks, 23 Pine Grosbeaks, 40 Grey-crowned Rosy-Finches, 1 American Tree Sparrow and 47 Dark-eyed Juncos (2 hyamalis, 5 cismontanus, 40 montanus).
13.5 hours (438.2) BAEA 1 (225), NOHA 1 (6), SSHA 4 (23), RTHA 1 (28), GOEA 10 (905) TOTAL 17 (1291)
Wednesday, April 01 Steeples [Day 26] 1430-1930 (Vance Mattson). The ridges were totally obscured to 1430 after which they were partially obscured. The temperature was -1C, conditions were calm, cloud cover was 100% altostratus and stratus and there was 8 cm of fresh snow on the ground. A total of 6 Golden Eagles (5a, 1j) were seen, 3 between 1645 and 1700 and the remaining 3 at 1801, 1810 and 1914.
5 hours (136.3) GOEA 6 (306) TOTAL 6 (413)
| SUMMARY COUNTS, SPRING 2020 | |||
| MOUNT LORETTE March 1-April 22 | BEAVER MINES Feb. 23-April 22 | STEEPLES March 1-April 22 | |
| DAYS | 26 | 37 | 26 |
| HOURS | 291.9 | 438.2 | 136.3 |
| TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| OSPREY (OSPR) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| BALD EAGLE (BAEA) | 75 | 225 | 98 |
| NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) | 3 | 23 | 0 |
| COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) | 6 | 32 | 1 |
| Accipiter sp. (UA) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) | 6 | 28 | 4 |
| FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) | 2 | 50 | 1 |
| Buteo sp. (UB) | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) | 1161 | 905 | 306 |
| Eagle sp. (UE) | 16 | 0 | 2 |
| AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| MERLIN (MERL) | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| GYRFALCON (GYRF) | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Falco sp. (UF) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Unidentified Raptor (UU) | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 1277 | 1291 | 413 |
