Beaver Mines and Steeples, November 2

Monday, November 02 Vicki Ridge [Day 42] 0710-1740 (Peter Sherrington and Hilary Atkinson, assisted by Phil Nicholas (1210-1450), observing from the Waterton 61 wellsite on the western flank of the ridge; and Gord Petersen (1220-1710) at the western edge of Kyllo Ridge at the Waterton 68 wellsite). The temperature at 0710 was 10C, the high was 15C (1300-1500) and it was 12C at 1740. Winds were strong W-WSW all day 30-40 gusting 60 km/h to 0900 and 50-60 gusting 70-90 km/h for the rest of the day. Cloud cover was 60-70% altocumulus, lenticular and cirrus to 1100 and 40-20% altocumulus and lenticular for the rest of the day. At Waterton 61 the strong winds produced a very sporadic count of 17 birds of 5 species between 0750 and 1631 that comprised 2 Bald Eagles (1a, 1j), 3 Sharp-shinned Hawks (2a, 1u), 1a Cooper’s Hawk, 2 light morph Rough-legged Hawks, 8 Golden Eagles (7a, 1j) and 1 unidentified eagle. The highest hourly counts were 4 between 1100 and 1200, and 1300 to 1400, and only 1 bird was seen after 1435. Movement was more persistent at the Waterton 68 site where 21 migrants of 6 species moved between 1225 and 1710 that comprised 5 Bald Eagles (2a, 3j), 1u Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1j Cooper’s Hawk, 1u Northern Goshawk, 5 Rough-legged Hawks (4 light, 1 dark) and 8 Golden Eagles (6a, 1j, 1u). The hourly counts after 1225 were 3, 3, 5, 6 and 4 during which time only 7 migrants were seen at Waterton 61. The combined site count of 38 migrants of 6 species that moved between 0750 and 1710 was 7 Bald Eagles (3a, 4j), 4 Sharp-shinned Hawks (2a, 2u), 2 Cooper’s Hawks (1a, 1j), 1u Northern Goshawk, 7 Rough-legged Hawks (6 light, 1 dark), 16 Golden Eagles (13a, 2j, 1u) and 1 unidentified eagle. The highest combined sites hourly counts were 7 (1300-1400 and 1400-1500). Other birds seen were 1 Pileated Woodpecker, 1 Black-billed Magpie, 153 Common Ravens of which 128 were at Waterton 68, 1 American Robin and 1 Common Redpoll.

10.5 hours (419.6) BAEA 7 (289), SSHA 4 (953), COHA 2 (148), NOGO 1 (93), RLHA 7 (260), GOEA 16 (2493), UE 1 (32) TOTAL 38 (4612)

Monday, November 02 Mount Lorette [Day 42] 0745-1715 (Caroline Lambert assisted by Graeme Dunlop). Sixteen migrants of 2 species were seen between 0925 and 1553: 5 Bald Eagles (3a, 1sa, 1u) and 11 Golden Eagles (6a, 1sa, 1j, 3u). Apart from one Bald Eagle that moved fairly low to the south above the river the rest of the eagles moved extremely high above the Fisher Range buoyed by the very strong SW-WSW winds that blew all day.

9.5 hours (455.6) BAEA 5 (160), GOEA 11 (2579) TOTAL 16 (3117)

Monday, November 02 Steeples [Day 19] 1500-1630 (Vance Mattson observing at the Wolf Creek site). The temperature was 9C, it was calm and cloud cover was 20% altostratus that gave sunny conditions. No migrants were seen, but 3 resident Golden Eagles (2a, 1sa) were present.

1.5 hours (59.5) TOTAL 0 (123)