Lorette, Beaver Mines, Steeples March 4

March 4 (Jim Davis) No observation possible. 0800-1200. The temperature was -7C, it was calm and low overcast with steady heavy snow throughout. There was 25 cm of fresh snow at the parking area on arrival and a further 20 cm had fallen before Jim left at noon with the conditions showing no sign of changing.

Beaver Mines [Day 8] (Peter Sherrington) 0900-1745. The temperature at 0900 was 4C, reached a high of 6C at 1200 and 1300 and was 2C at 1745. Winds were W-WSW 40-55 gusting 67 km/h to 1600 after which they dropped below 20 km/h and were light E just before the end of observation. Cloud cover was initially 10-20% cumulus t0 1300 when altostratus cloud began to form reaching 70-80% throughout the afternoon that gave good observing conditions. Apart from 1300-1500 the mountain ridges to the SW were clear. Raptor movement was initially slow with only 5 Golden Eagles seen between 0954 and 1236. After 1400, however, the pace quickened somewhat and a further 11 migrants moved to the NW before 1721. The count was 4 adult Bald Eagles, 1 adult Northern Goshawk, 2 light morph Rough-legged Hawks and 9 Golden Eagles (8a, 1j).

8.75 hours (47.5) BAEA 4 (14), NOGO 1 (4), RLHA 2 (4) GOEA 9 (47) TOTAL 16 (71)

Steeples [Day 1] (Vance Mattson) 1200-1600. Because the access road to the Bill Nye site is still barred by heavy snow drifts Vance observed from the Bull Mountain site which is the most southerly peak of the Steeples Range. The temperature was 6C with calm or moderate W winds, cloud cover was 40-60% cumulus and altostratus that gave mainly sunny conditions. The ridges were generally clear but no migrants were seen; however 6 Bald Eagles (5a, 1j) and 3 Golden Eagles (1a, 2j) were in the area but none showed any signs of migratory behaviour. The adult Golden Eagle was seen displaying.

4 hours (4) TOTAL 0 (0)

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

DAYS 3

HOURS 25.92

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 0

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 2

NORTHERN HARRIER (NOHA) 0

SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (SSHA) 0

COOPER’S HAWK (COHA) 0

NORTHERN GOSHAWK (NOGO) 0

Accipiter sp. (UA) 0

BROAD-WINGED HAWK (BWHA) 0

SWAINSON’S HAWK (SWHA) 0

RED-TAILED HAWK (RTHA) 0

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 0

Buteo sp. (UB) 0

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 2

Eagle sp. (UE) 0

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 0

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 0

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 0

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 0

Falco sp. (UF) 0

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 0

TOTAL 4