Beaver Mines, April 29

Wednesday, April 29 Beaver Mines [Day 65] 0630-2030 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson). The temperature at 0630 was 8C, the high from 1500 to 1700 was 20C and it was still 17C at 2030. Winds were again W-WSW all day, 20-30 gusting 40-50 km/h in the morning and slightly moderating to 20-30 gusting 35-40 km/h in the afternoon. Cloud cover was 90-100% all day mainly comprising altostratus and altocumulus with varying amounts of thin cirrostratus and cirrocumulus that allowed hazy sunshine most of the time. Observing conditions were again excellent and a total of 30 migrant raptors were seen moving high and fairly steadily between 0936 and 1954. The count was 1 adult Turkey Vulture, 3 probable juvenile female Northern Harriers, 7 Sharp-shinned Hawks (1a, 6u), 2 Cooper’s Hawks (1j, 1u), 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 1 adult light morph Broad-winged Hawk, 10 Golden Eagles (2sa, 7j, 1u), 3 American Kestrels (2 males, 1 female), 1u columbarius Merlin and 1 adult female Peregrine Falcon. The highest hourly counts were 5 between 1700 and 1800 and again between 1900 and 2000. Resident Red-tailed Hawks were seen in the air almost continuously between 0916 and 1944 with 10 widely-spaced soaring birds seen at 1030 and groups of 3 to 5 birds occurred several times with males often displaying. No migrant Red-tails were seen. The resident pair of Northern Harriers was also present with the male only seen displaying at 1045. Other birds were 11 Canada Geese, 5 Mallards, 4 Green-winged Teal, 11 Rock Pigeons, 1 Mourning Dove, 1 male Rufous Hummingbird that was a season’s first for the site, 5 Sandhill Cranes, 4 Wilson’s Snipe, 1 Red-naped Sapsucker, 2 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Red-shafted Flicker, 2 Blue Jays, 25 American Crows, 20 Common Ravens, 4 Tree Swallows, 3 Black-capped Chickadees, 1 Mountain Chickadee, 6 American Robins, 10 European Starlings, 23 Evening Grosbeaks, 2 male Cassin’s Finches that were the first seasonal record for the site, 3 intergrade oriantha– gambelii White-crowned Sparrows, 2 Dark-eyed Juncos (1 cismontanus and 1 montanus), 12 male and 1 female Red-winged Blackbirds and 3 male and 1 female Common Grackles.

14 hours (820.7) TUVU 1 (14), NOHA 3 (45), SSHA 7 (126), COHA 2 (25), NOGO 1 (51), BWHA 1 (21), GOEA 10 (1163), AMKE 3 (21), MERL 1 (31), PEFA 1 (17) TOTAL 30 (2274)