Beaver Mines and Steeples, March 15

Sunday, March 15 Beaver Mines [Day 20] 0730-2000 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson). The temperature at 0730 was -23C, the high at 1800 and 1900 was -12C and it was -13C at 2000. Winds were variable and calm to light (0-10 km/h) all day, and cloud cover was 100% stratus to 1000 after which it was completely cloudless for the rest of the day. The calm conditions produced a low but persistent count of 13 Golden Eagles (12a, 1j) that flapped slowly to the NNW between 1021 and 1606 after which all movement ceased. One adult bird perched on a Douglas fir on top of the ridge for over an hour before finally setting off at 1557. A late subadult non-migrant Bald Eagle was seen in the area for the third consecutive day, and an adult resident Northern Goshawk hunted on the ridge at 0806. Other birds seen were 10 Canada Geese that flew high to the SW at 1854, 1 Eurasian Collared Dove, 3 Downy Woodpeckers, 1 Hairy Woodpecker, 2 Blue Jays, 3 Black-billed Magpies, 33 Common Ravens, 8 Black-capped Chickadees, 12 Mountain Chickadees, 4 European Starlings, 3 Evening Grosbeaks, 35 Pine Grosbeaks, 1 American Tree Sparrow and 26 Dark-eyed Juncos (1 cismontanus and 25 montanus).

12.5 hours (216) GOEA 13 (272) TOTAL 13 (427)

Sunday, March 15 Steeples [Day 11] 1130-1830 (Vance Mattson). The temperature at 1130 was -8C but it warmed up to 0C, winds were initially light north but became calm after 1430 and it was cloudless all day. A total of 14 adult eagles, 2 Bald and 14 Golden, moved north between 1507 and 1645 with the last migrants being a string of 5 Golden Eagles. Single resident adult and juvenile Golden Eagles were present that perched together and were also seen hunting. A pair of resident adult Bald Eagles engaged in a spirited courtship flight, and non-migrant juvenile and subadult Bald Eagles were also seen together.

7 hours (34.75) BAEA 2 (18), GOEA 12 (57) TOTAL 14 (76)