Mount Lorette and Beaver Mines, March 15

March 15 [Day 14] (Blake Weis, assisted by Caroline Lambert) 0745-1310 (Hay Meadow), 1340-1850 (Barrier Lake Dam). The temperature at 0745 was 1C and the high was 5C at 1200 and 1300. Ground winds were mainly S 0-5 km/h to 1000 then 5-10 gusting 15 km/h, while at the Barrier Lake dam they were 10-15 gusting 25 km/h. Ridge winds were light S-SW to 1100 and then moderate to strong for the rest of the day. Cloud cover was 100-80% stratus at Hay Meadow and 50-90% stratus at Barrier Lake. The eastern ridges were 60-100% obscured to 1310 and light to moderate rain fell continuously. At 1310 the observers decided that they were wet enough and decided to relocate to the dam at the northern end of Barrier Lake which was just beyond the rain front. At the Hay Meadow site the first Golden Eagle was seen at 1051 and before the site was abandoned 13 Golden Eagles (7a, 2j, 4u) were recorded, most of which were seen over Mount Lorette and only 1 at the northern end of the Fisher Range. At Barrier Lake the count was 2 adult Bald Eagles, 16 Golden Eagles (8a, 1sa, 1j, 6u) and 4 unidentified eagles that were moving to the NW from the highest foothills ridge. These were birds that would normally have been seen from the nearby Lusk Creek site. Other birds seen at Hay Meadow were 2 Grey Jays, 14 Common Ravens, 4 Mountain Chickadees , 2 Boreal Chickadees, 1 Red-breasted Nuthatch and 1 American Dipper.

11 hours (140.2) BAEA 2 (59), GOEA 29 (281) UE 4 (8) TOTAL 35 (355)

Beaver Mines [Day 18] (Peter Sherrington, assisted by Denise Cocciolone-Amatto) 0800-1900. The temperature at 0800 was 7C, rose to a high of 11C at 1000 and 1100, and was again 7C at 1900 when observation ceased. Winds were WSW-W all day 30-50 gusting up to 63 km/h, but dropped below 40 km/h for the last 2 hours. Cloud cover was 70-100% altostratus, cumulus and altocumulus for most of the day with the exception of 1500 and 1600 when it thinned to 40-60%, that gave excellent observing conditions all day. There was a strong raptor movement with a season high 178 migrants of 8 species moving between 1030 and 1855 The count was 13 Bald Eagles (12a, 1j), 1u Northern Goshawk, 1 adult light morph calurus Red-tailed Hawk (which was the last bird of the day at 1855), 5 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, a season high 154 Golden Eagles (152a, 1sa, 1j), 2 columbarius Merlins (1 adult female and 1u), 1 adult, probable male, grey morph Gyrfalcon and 1 Prairie Falcon. The main movement was between 1100 and 1400 when 95 birds were seen, with a high hourly count of 48 birds (4 Bald and 44 Golden Eagles) between 1200 and 1300. Movement then slowed but remained steady over the next 3 hours and picked up again at the end of the day with 19 birds moving between 1700 and 1800 and 25 between 1800 and 1855. The total of 178 is the third highest at the site after the 463 (429 Golden Eagles) counted on March 19, 2005 and the 197 (156 Golden Eagles) counted on the following day. A male Mountain Bluebird at 1236 was the first for the year.

11 hours (130.6) BAEA 13 (102), NOGO 1 (10), RTHA 1 (4), RLHA 5 (18), GOEA 154 (363), MERL 2 (5), GYRF 1 (4), PRFA 1 (2) TOTAL 178 (511)

Steeples (Vance Mattson) No observation.

MOUNT LORETTE SUMMARY COUNT (March 1 to April 22)

DAYS 14

HOURS 140.2

TURKEY VULTURE (TUVU) 0

OSPREY (OSPR) 0

BALD EAGLE (BAEA) 59

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) 1

FERRUGINOUS HAWK (FEHA) 0

ROUGH-LEGGED HAWK (RLHA) 4

Buteo sp. (UB) 1

GOLDEN EAGLE (GOEA) 281

Eagle sp. (UE) 4

AMERICAN KESTREL (AMKE) 0

MERLIN (MERL) 1

GYRFALCON (GYRF) 0

PEREGRINE FALCON (PEFA) 0

PRAIRIE FALCON (PRFA) 0

Falco sp. (UF) 0

Unidentified Raptor (UU) 0

TOTAL 355